INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

British Overseas Territories

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to question 113431, tabled on 19 December 2006, by the hon. Member for Romford, what criteria are taken into account in deciding to make ministerial visits to British overseas territories and Crown dependencies.

Gareth Thomas: Many factors are considered in determining ministerial priorities for travel to partner countries and territories. These include the size of DFID's programme, the justification for engagement at ministerial rather than at official level and the practicality of accommodating a visit alongside other ministerial and parliamentary duties. DFID has no responsibilities for the Crown dependencies.

Statistics

Theresa May: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the process is for deciding the date of publication of statistics prepared by or relating to the Department; and who is involved in that process.

Hilary Benn: The National Statistics Code of Practice (2002)—which serves as a model for all public sector statistical work—established the principle that
	"final responsibility for the content, format and timing of release of national statistics"
	rests with the Head of Profession for statistics in each department. In reaching their decisions, Heads of Profession take into consideration the detailed procedural guidance given in the 'National Statistics Protocol on Release Practices'.
	Copies of the code and its 12 supporting protocols are available in the Library of the House and can also be accessed using the following address:
	http://www.statistics.gov.uk/about/national_statistics/cop/default.asp

HOUSE OF COMMONS COMMISSION

Visitors Entrance

Simon Burns: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission, when the visitors entrance to the Palace of Westminster is expected to be completed; what the reasons are for the delay in its construction; what the total cost of the project will be; whether additional costs will be incurred as a result of the delay; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Harvey: I refer the hon. Member to the replies I gave on 19 December 2006,  Official Report, columns 1791-92W. The House of Commons Commission will receive a further report on progress at the end of this month.

LEADER OF THE HOUSE

Correspondence

Paul Burstow: To ask the Leader of the House how many letters to his Department sent from hon. Members during Session 2005-06 remain unanswered, broken down by those which are  (a) one month old,  (b) two months old,  (c) three months old,  (d) four months old and  (e) over six months old.

Jack Straw: For the calendar year 2006 the Office of the Leader of the House of Commons answered 95 per cent. of correspondence from hon. Members that required a reply within our 15 working day deadline. We have no outstanding correspondence from hon. Members received in the 2005-06 Session.
	The Cabinet Office, on an annual basis, publishes a report to Parliament on the performance of Departments in replying to Members'/Peers' correspondence. The report for 2005 was published on 30 March 2006,  Official Report, columns 75-78WS. Information relating to 2006 is currently being collated and will be published as soon as it is ready.

Engagements

George Galloway: To ask the Leader of the House on what dates Ministers in his Office made official visits to the London boroughs of  (a) Tower Hamlets,  (b) Newham and  (c) Waltham Forest in each year since 1997.

Jack Straw: Our records do not cover the entire period requested. The records available show that there have been two occasions that Ministers from the Office of the Leader of the House of Commons have made official visits to the London borough of Newham. I visited Stratford on 20 June 2006 to view the Olympic park site; and the late right hon. Robin Cook MP, when Leader of the House, visited Newham on 2 May 2002.

Engagements

George Galloway: To ask the Leader of the House on what dates the Leader of the House of Lords and Lord President of the Council made official visits to the London boroughs of  (a) Tower Hamlets,  (b) Newham and  (c) Waltham Forest in each year since 1997.

Jack Straw: Our records do not cover the period requested. However, the Leader of the Lords and Lord President of the Council spoke at a Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS event in Tower Hamlets on 22 May 2006 and at the UNESCO launch of 'Education For All: Global Monitoring Report 2006' in Tower Hamlets on 9 November 2005.

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Trade Balance

Robert Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the UK trade balance was in the latest period for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement.

Ian McCartney: The UK trade balance was £4.7 billion in deficit in November 2006 (the most recent period for which figures are available from the ONS), up from £4.1 billion in October 2006, as a small rise in exports (up 0.5 per cent.) was outweighed by a larger rise in imports (up 2.3 per cent.).
	Total UK exports (goods and services) were £326 billion in 2005—up 9 per cent. on 2004. There was a strong performance in both goods (up 11 per cent.) and services (up 6 per cent.).
	The stock of inward investment in the UK rose to £483 billion at the end of 2005, a rise of £119 billion over the stock at the end of 2004.
	The UK is the second most popular destination for inward investment in the world (behind the US).

Post Office

David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps he is taking to increase the business opportunities for the Post Office.

Jim Fitzpatrick: Within the proposed framework of Government support, the development of business opportunities for the Post Office is an operational matter for the management of Royal Mail and Post Office Ltd.

Minimum Wage

Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps he is taking to prevent employers paying below the minimum wage.

Andrew Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps he is taking to prevent employers paying below the minimum wage.

Jim Fitzpatrick: The Government publicise details of the minimum wage every time it increases and Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) follow up all complaints about underpayment. HMRC also target enforcement action on low-paying employers and take tough action against those that are found to be non-compliant.

Marine Renewables Deployment Fund

Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on the operation of the Marine Renewables Deployment Fund.

Malcolm Wicks: The DTI's £50 million "Marine Renewables Deployment Fund" was established to assist the continued development of wave and tidal-stream energy technologies beyond the initial research and development phase.
	The fund is open to applications under any of the planned rounds.

Corus

Denis MacShane: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what recent discussions he has had with Corus and steel trade unions on the take-over of Corus.

Ian McCartney: Although there have been no specific meetings with Ministers, the company and trade unions have kept DTI officials and advisors up to date as the situation has developed and of course further meetings will be held if requested by Corus and the unions.

York: Science City

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assistance the Government have provided to York as a science city.

Malcolm Wicks: Since 1998 Science City York has secured funding of £3.5 million. The funding sources include the City of York council, European funding, the Learning and Skills Council and Yorkshire Forward.
	The main change since my hon. Friend asked the same question on 8 June 2006 is the addition of £470,000 to meet the three-year salary costs (2007 to 2009) and recruit administrative support for the new post of chief executive, Science City York.
	A further £2.63 million is allocated from Northern Way.

Bank Holidays

Shona McIsaac: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps he is taking to increase the number of bank holidays.

Jim Fitzpatrick: I refer my hon. Friend to question number 9 answered in Trade and Industry questions today.

Emissions Trading Scheme

Hywel Francis: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what discussions he had with  (a) management in the UK steel industry,  (b) trade unions and  (c) the European Commission on the impact of phase 2 of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme on the UK steel industry.

Malcolm Wicks: This matter was discussed on 21 June 2006 when I met with the All Party Parliamentary Group for Steel and Metal-Related Industry, at which UK steel companies were represented. On 13 July 2006, I met a delegation from the Metals Forum—including a representative of the trade association UK Steel—and the EU ETS phase 2 allocations was among a range of issues covered. On 17 October 2006 my hon. Friend the Member for Sittingbourne and Sheppey (Derek Wyatt) was present when I discussed EU ETS phase 2 allocations with senior management from Thamesteel. This subject has also been reviewed at meetings of the Business Energy Forum, which is jointly chaired by the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, my right hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh, South-West (Mr. Darling) and Richard Lambert of the Confederation of British Industry. There have been no meetings on the impact of this issue on the steel industry with the trade unions or the European Commission.

Radio Spectrum

Peter Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what representations he has received on the Office of Communications consultation on the allocation of the radio spectrum; and if he will make a statement.

Malcolm Wicks: The Department is in regular contact with users of, and those with an interest in, the radio spectrum. No specific representations have been received on the Office of Communications' (Ofcom) recent consultations on the allocation of the radio spectrum. Ofcom, the independent regulator of communications, is responsible for managing civil radio spectrum in the UK, and Ofcom is accountable directly to Parliament in respect of its statutory responsibilities. Any representation on Ofcom's spectrum consultations are a matter for the regulator.

ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Air Travel Emissions

Mark Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what his estimate is of annual departmental emissions from air travel, broken down by Department.

Ian Pearson: The table shows estimated annual emissions of carbon dioxide from air travel attributable to Government Departments. These are estimates based on air travel spending and/or distance travelled, collected for the purpose of calculating payments into the Government Carbon Offsetting Fund(1). Some departmental figures include air travel emissions attributable to associated agencies. When applied to the Government Carbon Offsetting Fund, departmental figures will be multiplied by two to take into account the additional impact of emissions at altitude.
	(1) The Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Department for Culture, Media and Sport operate their own offsetting schemes.
	
		
			  Department  Tonnes of carbon dioxide per year 
			 Foreign and Commonwealth Office 14,243 
			 Department for International Development 8,676 
			 Ministry of Defence 7,583 
			 HM Revenue and Customs 4,155 
			 Department for Trade and Industry 3,404 
			 Home Office 2,362 
			 Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) 1,997 
			 Treasury 1,662 
			 Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 1,350 
			 Department of Health 955 
			 Cabinet Office 818 
			 Department for Transport 520 
			 Office of the Deputy Prime Minister 340 
			 Office of National Statistics 190 
			 Department for Education and Skills 148 
			 Law Officers Department Crown Prosecution Service 228 
			 Department for Culture, Media and Sport 151 
			 Law Officers Department Serious Fraud Office 133 
			 Department for Constitutional Affairs 139 
			 Office of Government Commerce (OGC) 111 
			 Export Credits Guarantee Department 128 
			 Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science 80 
			 Legal Secretariat to the Law Officers 30 
			 Government Actuary's Department 23 
			 Debt Management Office 4 
			 Total 49,430 
		
	
	Defra recognises some of the inherent difficulties in calculating carbon dioxide emissions from financial expenditure, and is actively seeking to improve carbon dioxide reporting mechanisms across Government.
	The recent Pan-Government Travel Contract (led by the DWP, OGC and Defra) had sustainability as a stringent criterion. My Department, in partnership with our travel service provider, has developed carbon reporting based on business mileages, rather than financial expenditure. This has improved the reliability of data streams and enabled strategic analysis.
	Through the work of the Defra-led Government Carbon Offsetting Fund Interdepartmental Group and the Civil Service Travel Group, Defra is promoting the use of the collaborative Pan-Government Travel Contract. We are also sharing best practice across the Government Estate.

Animal Welfare

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the result was of his Department's consultation on proposed guidance for the transport of greyhounds; and whether his Department plans to issue guidance relating specifically to the transport of greyhounds.

Ben Bradshaw: Defra has not consulted specifically on proposed guidance for the transport of greyhounds. However, in May 2006 Defra published a consultation paper on the implementation in England of Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2005 on the protection of animals during transport and related operations. A summary of responses can be found on the Defra website at:
	http://www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/consult/anirnaltransport-eureg/responses-summary.pdf.
	Following that consultation, my Department issued guidance on compliance with Regulation 1/2005 which is available on the Defra website at:
	http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/welfare/farmed/transport/eu-transportreg.htm.
	Specific guidance on the transport of greyhounds is not planned but it is our intention to use powers provided under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 to introduce regulations and a code on the welfare of greyhounds used in racing.

Animal Welfare

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the answer of 14 December 2006 , Official Report, columns 1242-3W, on animal welfare, whether the British Greyhound Racing Board consulted his Department before issuing its guidance; and if he will make a statement.

Ben Bradshaw: The British Greyhound Racing Board did consult Defra before issuing its guidance on transporting greyhounds.

Bovine Animal Seizures

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs which Minister authorised the decision to attempt to seize bovine animal UK OX0564 00177 on 10 January 2007; and on what date that decision was taken.

Ben Bradshaw: holding answer 17 January 2007
	My letter of 15 November 2006 advised the hon. Member that I considered the animal in question to be a bovine spongiform encephalopathy cohort and that the state veterinary service would make arrangements to slaughter it. The law requires cohorts to be slaughtered as soon as possible.
	A decision on when to remove an animal for slaughter is an operational one for the state veterinary service. Given the public interest generated about this animal the SVS informed Ministers of their intention to remove the animal on 8 January 2007. They were under no obligation to do so.

Carbon Emissions

Mark Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  what the total carbon emissions of the UK were for road transport in the most recent year for which information is available;
	(2)  what the total carbon emissions of the UK were for  (a) power generation and  (b) domestic consumption in the most recent year for which information is available.

Ian Pearson: The UK Greenhouse Gas Inventory published in 2006 contains final estimates of emissions to 2004, which is the latest year for which information is currently available.
	The total UK emissions of carbon dioxide from road transport, power generation and the domestic sector in 2004, as reported in the Inventory, are set out in the following table.
	
		
			  Sector  Total UK emissions of carbon dioxide in 2004 (Megatons (Mt)) 
			 Road transport 119.8 carbon dioxide or 32.7 carbon 
			 Power generation 171.4 carbon dioxide 
			 Domestic sector 87.9 carbon dioxide 
		
	
	Provisional DTI figures, published in March 2006, suggest small increases in emissions in 2005. Final statistics for 2005 from the UK Greenhouse Gas Inventory will be available on 31 January.

Carbon Emissions

Mark Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the Government's targets are for the reduction in total carbon emissions of the UK for  (a) road transport,  (b) power generation and  (c) domestic consumption by (i) 2020, (ii) 2030 and (iii) 2050.

Ian Pearson: The new Climate Change Bill announced in the Queen's speech will make the Government's long-term goal to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 60 per cent. by 2050 a statutory target. How this target is measured and how progress is reported, are fundamental issues that are still being considered. Appropriate interim targets are being looked at.
	The Government do not have specific carbon dioxide emission reduction targets for individual sectors. However, the 2006 UK climate change programme (UKCCP) sets out the measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in six broad sectors: energy supply; business; transport; domestic; agriculture, forestry and land management; and public and local government.
	The 2006 UKCCP also contains data on recorded emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases covered by the Kyoto protocol, and projected emissions of these gases to 2020.
	The 2006 UKCCP can be accessed on the Defra website at:
	http://defraweb/environment/climatechange/uk/ukccp/

Climate Change Bill

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when he expects to reply to the letter of 11 October 2006 from the right hon. Member for Warley on the Climate Change Bill.

Ian Pearson: A reply was sent to the hon. Member on 7 January 2007. I apologise for the delay.

Compensation Payments

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much in compensation payments was paid by his Department in 2005-06; and what the reason for the payment was in each case.

Barry Gardiner: The following amounts were paid in compensation by the Department in 2005-06:
	
		
			  Litigation 
			  £ 
			 Employment  
			 Dismissal  
			 Case 1 17,000 
			 Case 2 2,683.36 
			 Case 3 19,000 
			 Case 4 44,000 
			 Case 5 4,468 
			 Case 6 19,767 
			 Case 7 6,870 
			 Case 8 (1)7,593 
			 Case 9 (2)4,000 
			   
			 Personal injury  
			 Case 1 750 
			 Case 2 3,000 
			 Case 3 3,000 
			 Case 4 3,000 
			 Case 5 400 
			 Case 6 3,310 
			 Case 7 65,436.90 
			   
			 Rights of way  
			 Case 1 3,500 
			   
			  Foot and Mouth Disease  
			 Claims  
			 Case 1 3,228.50 
			 Case 2 2,526.25 
			   
			 Personal Injury  
			 Case 1 40,000 
			   
			 Arbitration  
			 Case l 81,678.75 
			 Case 2 25,000 
			 Case 3 35,000 
			 Case 4 3,400 
			 Case 5 36,177 
			 Case 6 181,843.99 
			   
			 Slaughter Premium  
			 Liquidated claims 51,364.26 
			 Unliquidated claims 89,627.86 
			 (1 )Settlement prior to ET £6,000 (2 )Settlement prior to ET

Countryside Access

David Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the policy is of his Department on encouraging equestrian access to the countryside.

Barry Gardiner: We have worked closely with both the British Horse Society and British Horse Industry Confederation on the production of the joint "Horse Industry Strategy for England and Wales" which was launched in December 2005. Improved equestrian access features strongly in the strategy which is available from the Defra website at:
	http://www.defra.gov.uk/rural/horses/topics/strategy.htm.
	The Government are committed to improving access for equestrians by increasing the number of bridleways and improving the off-road riding and driving network. A number of current initiatives, such as Rights of Way Improvement Plans and the Discovering Lost Ways Project, aim to achieve this objective. Local access forums also play an important role in pressing the case for equestrian access in the development of the bridleway network.

Departmental Budget Review

Mark Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the likely effect will be of the conclusions of his Department's summer budget review on funds available to the Institute for Grasslands and Environmental Research in each of the next three years.

Barry Gardiner: No ongoing research projects at the Institute for Grassland and Environmental Research (IGER) have been affected by the recent budgetary reductions. Defra allocated over £150 million to research and development (R&D) in 2006-07, reflecting the value the Department places on research. However R&D spending is not ring-fenced and cannot be protected from other competing pressures.
	Defra-funded research at IGER in 2006-07 is currently £5.4 million, with ongoing spend for 2007-08 and 2008-09 at £2.1 million and £1.1 million respectively. Negotiations are progressing for further new research to start at IGER during 2007-08 and subsequently.

Departmental Energy Efficiency

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the answer of 8 January 2007,  Official Report, column 271W, on departmental energy efficiency, what steps he is taking to spread best practice to other Departments and public bodies.

Ian Pearson: The Carbon Trust and Energy Saving Trust are Government-funded bodies that are working to improve energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions.
	These bodies work with public sector organisations such as local authorities, schools, the NHS and Government Departments. They spread best practice in both the public and the private sector.
	For example, in 2006 the Department of Health, in partnership with the Carbon Trust, published a guide which provides best practice to ensure that everyone involved in managing, procuring and using healthcare buildings and equipment considered the implications of energy use, and it can be found at:
	http://www.carbontrust.co.uk/Publicsites/cScape.CT.PublicationsOrdering/PublicationAudit.aspx

Departmental Energy Policy

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether he plans to make his Department carbon-neutral.

Ian Pearson: The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs will meet the commitment for a carbon-neutral central Government estate by 2012 through a package of measures, which include reducing emissions, using renewable energy and only offsetting what cannot be eliminated.
	Defra is currently working with the Carbon Trust to implement a carbon management programme which will prioritise activity to maximise energy and carbon savings. The programme will look to develop a systematic approach to carbon management and assist in reducing carbon emissions through operational improvements, reduced energy costs, staff awareness and monitoring initiatives. This activity goes hand in hand with Defra's own energy efficiency programme, which is focusing on monitoring energy consumption across the estate and identifying opportunities for better managing energy use.

Eastern Region Flood Defences

Keith Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the reasons are for the reductions in the budget of the Eastern Region Flood Defences from 2006-07 to 2007-08.

Ian Pearson: Defra will provide £435.7 million to the Environment Agency in 2007-08 for Flood Risk Management, almost £23 million more than was available in 2006-07.
	The agency allocates funding to Regional Flood Defence Committees both for new capital schemes and to maintain existing defences on the basis of national priorities to ensure that the funding is spent to optimum effect. This inevitably means that the allocation to each Regional Flood Defence Committee is likely to change year on year, particularly as capital schemes are completed.
	During the current year, major schemes in the Anglian Eastern area have completed, notably Canvey and Tilbury. A wide range of capital schemes—such as Broadlands and Eastern Broad—will be taken forward in the agency's Anglian Eastern area in 2007-08.

Environment Agency

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate he has made of how much public money was lost through financial mis-management at the Environment Agency in each of the last five years.

Ian Pearson: holding answer 17 January 2007
	The National Audit Office have confirmed in the last two financial years (and PricewaterhouseCoopers before that (2001-02 to 2003-04)) that in all material aspects the expenditure and income for the Environment Agency have been applied to the purposes intended by Parliament and the financial transactions conform to the standards set by the authorities which govern them.

Flooding: Insurance

Charles Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether the Government have contingency plans in place to ensure that coastal communities at risk from rising sea levels and flooding can access property insurance in the event of the private sector withdrawing insurance coverage.

Ian Pearson: The Government continue to work with the Association of British Insurers to maintain the widespread availability of flood risk insurance. Insurance cover remains broadly available to households in areas at risk of flooding in accordance with the Association's 'Statement of Principles' which is published on their website. I met the Association in November and they confirmed there are no plans to withdraw from the Statement of Principles.

Litter

Bob Blizzard: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many fixed penalty fines for litter offences were issued by each local authority in England in each of the last three years for which figures are available.

Ben Bradshaw: I have arranged for the information requested to be placed in the Library of the House.

London Waste and Recycling Forum

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when he plans to establish the proposed London Waste and Recycling Forum and Fund; and whether  (a) the Fund and  (b) the Forum will be put on a statutory footing.

Ben Bradshaw: The issue of London's waste is currently being debated in Parliament in the context of the Greater London Authority (GLA) Bill. The GLA Bill was introduced to Parliament on 27 November 2006, and will take forward a number of changes to the Mayor's powers announced on 13 July last year. The Government announced a package of measures to strengthen London's ability to manage waste sustainably without change to current structures.
	The Government intend to establish a London-wide Waste and Recycling Forum which will bring stakeholders together to deliver improved performance on waste minimisation and recycling, promote collaborative action and link waste with other London priorities around climate change, transport and employment. Under the Government's proposals, neither the Fund nor the Forum should have statutory powers.

Meat Imports

James Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the volume and value of beef imported from Brazil was in each of the last five years, broken down by state.

Barry Gardiner: holding answer 17 January 2007
	The volume and value of beef imports (including meat and offal preparations) from Brazil to the United Kingdom since 2001 are shown as follows:
	
		
			   £000  Tonnes 
			 2001 134,030 92,681 
			 2002 131,709 100,573 
			 2003 123,255 97,590 
			 2004 134,113 93,619 
			 2005 133,163 85,752 
			 2006(1) 128,677 70,724 
			 (1) January to October. 
		
	
	These figures were obtained from Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs for all consignments which have been declared through the required channels by both exporters and importers, in accordance with European Union (EU) regulations.
	Due to the EU tracing systems for all trade, it is not possible to break down these figures by states within third countries.

Meat Imports

James Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs which states in Brazil have  (a) reported outbreaks of foot and mouth in the last 12 months and  (b) been subject to EU bans on exports.

Ben Bradshaw: holding answer 17 January 2007
	In the last 12 months outbreaks of foot and mouth disease have been reported in Brazil in or around the regions of Mato Grosso do Sul, São Paulo and Parana.
	These regions, and associated affected areas, have been subject to European Union (EU) restrictions on exports since October 2005, when outbreaks were first confirmed there.
	Imports of livestock susceptible to foot and mouth disease from Brazil as a whole are currently banned under EU law. There is currently no evidence that we are aware of to justify a total EU ban on imports of meat and related food products from Brazil, although the Commission is keeping the situation under close scrutiny.

Natural England

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the implications of changes to Natural England's budget are for the educational elements of the Higher Level Scheme.

Barry Gardiner: pursuant to the reply, 11 January 2007, Official Report, c. 677
	My answer gave the year of Natural England's budget as 2006-07. This was incorrect and should have read 2007-08. The rest of the answer remains correct and is detailed in full as follows:
	Natural England's budget for 2007-08 was announced on 22 December as £169.59 million. This represents core funding, largely in relation to running costs. The Higher Level agri-environment scheme is funded under separate arrangements to support the UK's Rural Development Programmes.

Parliamentary Questions

Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when he will provide substantive responses to the parliamentary questions raised with his Department's Permanent Secretary in the evidence session held by the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee on 4 December 2006.

Barry Gardiner: The Department's Permanent Secretary will be writing to my hon. Friend before the end of this month in order to provide further information on the matters raised.

Rat Population

Christopher Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what information he collects on the money spent by sewerage undertakers on control of rat populations; and what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of that control.

Ian Pearson: The Department does not collect information on monies spent by sewerage undertakers on the control of rat populations, which is not one of their statutory functions. Nor does it make regular assessments of the effectiveness of sewerage undertakers' control of rat populations in sewers.

Rat Population

Christopher Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps have been taken as a result of his Department's review of liaison arrangements between water companies and local authorities in relation to sewer baiting for rats; and what further measures are planned.

Ian Pearson: A joint protocol, published in 1999 by the Local Government Association and Water UK, set out arrangements for closer working relationships between water companies and local authorities on rodent infestations in sewers. Sewer baiting policy is a matter for individual water companies.
	The last review, undertaken in 2003, did not receive sufficient responses to enable any clear conclusions to be drawn from the information provided.
	I am not aware of any representations from local authorities or water companies requiring further guidance.

Rat Population

Christopher Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will make a statement on the work of the Rats in Sewers Working Group.

Ian Pearson: The Rats in Sewers Working Group was established to encourage the development of joint strategies between local authorities and water companies for sewer baiting and the control of rodent populations. This resulted in the publication of a joint protocol by the Local Government Association and Water UK.
	The Working Group aims to meet, as appropriate, to discuss issues such as the effectiveness of the protocol.

Recycling

Christopher Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment he has made of the value for money of funding provided to the Waste and Resources Action Programme for the campaign Recycle Now.

Ben Bradshaw: The Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) was allocated a total of £11 million for a two-year period to run a national campaign on recycling. Recycle Now was launched in September 2004.
	A review of the campaign's value for money showed that it has cost 51 pence per household, which is within the range of costs reported in other EU member states for similar campaigns.
	An independent survey carried out by marketing groups has shown that the Recycle Now television adverts generate very strong public recognition and, therefore, compare favourably to successful commercial advertisements with significantly larger budgets.
	Work carried out by NOP on behalf of WRAP indicates an increase in committed recyclers, from 45 per cent. to 57 per cent. over the period from April 2004 to March 2006. This represents an additional five million committed recyclers (that is, those who regard recycling as important, those who recycle even if it requires additional effort, and those who recycle a lot or everything that they can). The campaign therefore exceeded the 55 per cent. committed recycler target set out in WRAP'S 2004-06 business plan.
	The Government firmly believes that public participation is key to increasing recycling and waste minimisation and in taking forward a policy of sustainable waste management. We have seen household waste recycling rates increase to 27 per cent. in 2005-06 (in combination with increased levels of recycling infrastructure). This exceeds the 25 per cent. target and represents nearly a fourfold increase since 1997.

Rights of Way

Dai Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment he has made of the accessibility of rights of way routes to disabled people.

Barry Gardiner: In 2005 Natural England produced a framework which aims to provide clear and detailed advice for countryside managers on how to improve access opportunities for disabled people. It guides land managers, land owners and others, through a process of working more actively with disabled people. This can be found on the Natural England website at:
	www.countryside.gov.uk/Images/Inclusive_tcm2-27716.pdf
	Under section 69 of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, highway authorities must consider the needs of disabled people when authorising the erection of stiles and gates or other works on footpaths or bridleways. A local authority may also enter into agreements with owners, occupiers or lessees of land to improve stiles, gates or other structures to benefit disabled people.
	The Welsh Assembly Government commenced section 69 in December 2006 and are currently consulting on statutory guidance, which is available online at:
	http://new.wales.gov.uk/consultations/currentconsultation/envandcouncurrcons/?lang=en
	DEFRA plans to consult on the section 69 statutory guidance shortly.

Rural Payments Agency

James Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many single payment scheme claimants have been written to by the Rural Payments Agency  (a) advising them that their claim may be adjusted and  (b) to seek a refund of overpayment; and what total sum of money is being reclaimed following overpayment.

Barry Gardiner: holding answer 16 January 2007
	RPA does not keep statistics on all letters and their type sent out to customers. However, as at 19 December, the 2005 SPS claims for 17,288 customers had been adjusted. These adjustments have resulted in claim reductions of £11.26 million. Overall, 3,647 claimants have received overpayments valued at about £23.1 million. The overpayments are in the process of being recovered.

Statistics

Theresa May: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the process is for deciding the date of publication of statistics prepared by or relating to the Department; and who is involved in that process.

Barry Gardiner: The National Statistics Code of Practice (2002)—which serves as a model for all public sector statistical work—established the principle that
	'final responsibility for the content, format and timing of release of National Statistics'
	rests with the Head of Profession for Statistics in each department. In reaching their decisions, Heads of Profession take into consideration the detailed procedural guidance given in the 'National Statistics Protocol on Release Practices'.
	Copies of the Code and its 12 supporting Protocols are available in the Library of the House and can also be accessed using the following address:
	http://www.statistics.gov.uk/about/national_statistics/cop/default.asp

Tail Docking

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many cases of illegal tail docking have been notified to the Department in the last two years.

Ben Bradshaw: We are not aware of any such cases.

Thames Barrier

Christopher Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many times the Thames Barrier has been raised in each year since its construction.

Ian Pearson: Environment Agency figures show that since its construction, the Thames Barrier has been closed to prevent flooding during the winter flood season (generally October to April) on 95 occasions as follows:
	
		
			   Total 
			 1982-83 1 
			 1983-84 0 
			 1984-85 0 
			 1985-86 1 
			 1986-87 1 
			 1987-88 0 
			 1988-89 1 
			 1989-90 4 
			 1990-91 1 
			 1991-92 1 
			 1992-93 4 
			 1993-94 7 
			 1994-95 4 
			 1995-96 4 
			 1996-97 1 
			 1997-98 1 
			 1998-99 2 
			 1999-2000 6 
			 2000-01 24 
			 2001-02 4 
			 2002-03 20 
			 2003-04 1 
			 2004-05 4 
			 2005-06 3 
			 2006-07(1) 0 
			 Total 95 
			 (1) To date. 
		
	
	At present the Thames Barrier is closed on average three to four times a year. In extreme conditions more frequent closures have been necessary to protect London from flooding—such as during the winter of 2000-01, when the barrier was closed 24 times and January 2003, when it was closed 19 times. These unusual occurrences were generally the result of continued high freshwater flows which only required a smaller tidal surge to necessitate a closure of the barrier.

Veterinary Surgeons

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what role the Department plays in the regulation of veterinary surgeons, including in suspension and removal.

Ben Bradshaw: The Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966 designates the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) as the body responsible for regulating the professional education and conduct of veterinary surgeons in the UK.
	DEFRA is considering ways in which the current regulatory framework might be modernised.

Warm Front

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many quotations for boiler replacements under the Warm Front initiative exceeded the individual grant available in  (a) 2003,  (b) 2004,  (c) 2005 and  (d) 2006.

Ian Pearson: holding answer 10 January 2007
	As the Warm Front scheme developed, new (raised) grant levels have been introduced to keep abreast of changes in the market place and Warm Front's evolving policy framework. In the interests of accuracy, the various grant levels have been separately identified.
	The proportion of boiler replacements which exceeded the grant maxima in the relevant scheme years are:
	
		
			  2003-04 
			  Grant limit  Boiler replacements costing above grant maxima (percentage) 
			 £1,500 11 
		
	
	Due to the varying nature of work involved in boiler replacement jobs, it is inevitable that some cases exceed the grant maximum, and 11 per cent. for year 2003-04 is deemed a reasonable level.
	
		
			  2004-05 
			  Grant limit  Boiler replacements costing above grant maxima (percentage) 
			 £1,500 88 
			 £2,500 42 
		
	
	Small increases in labour costs and material prices resulted in a large percentage increase of boiler replacements exceeding the grant maxima. This level was not deemed acceptable and, as such, a legislative change to raise the grant level was identified as the necessary course of action.
	
		
			  2005-06 
			  Grant limit  Boiler replacements costing above grant maxima (percentage) 
			 £1,500 97 
			 £2,500 84 
			 £2,700 29 
		
	
	2005-06 witnessed the transition between the first phase of Warm Front, and the current phase. As part of this transition, prices for materials and labour were harmonised across regions throughout England. Warm Front policy was also developed and previous Warm Front customers (from the first phase of the scheme) found themselves able to re-apply for the scheme and qualify for a greater level of assistance. Indications are that a significant proportion of the 29 per cent. of boiler replacements exceeding the £2,700 maximum had already received a portion of their available grant under the first phase of the scheme.
	
		
			  2006-07 (current) 
			  Grant limit  Boiler replacements costing above grant maxima (percentage) 
			 £2,700 30 
		
	
	Where heating measures alone are recommended, around 70 per cent. of cases can be fully funded by Warm Front. 40 per cent. of those cases that exceed the grant maxima have previously received assistance from the scheme—and thus are seeking grant support with less money in the household account.

Water Companies

Linda Gilroy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent representations he has received on increasing the five- year periodic review cycle in respect of setting price limits for water companies; and if he will make a statement.

Ian Pearson: Ofwat's 2006 consultation 'Setting water and sewerage prices, is five years right?' sought views on a number of issues including the length of time between price reviews.
	Over 30 responses were received from water industry stakeholders. A summary of responses is included in Ofwat's document 'A sustainable water industry—To PR09 and beyond'. A copy has been placed in the Library of the House and is also available on Ofwat's website at:
	http://www.ofwat.gov.uk/aptrix/ofwat/publish.nsf/AttachmentsByTitle/SustainableWaterInd011106.pdf/$FILE/SustainableWaterInd011106.pdf.
	My Department continues to work closely with Ofwat and other water industry stakeholders in preparation for the 2009 periodic review of price limits.

TRANSPORT

Advertising

Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much his Department spent on advertising with  The Guardian newspaper, including online, and on advertorials and advertising features, in the latest year for which figures are available.

Gillian Merron: The Department did not use  The Guardian in fiscal year 2005-06 for advertising in support of our THINK! road safety or Continuous Registration campaigns.
	 The Guardian has been used for recruitment advertising. Details, however, are not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Air Navigation Order

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  if he will investigate why the consultation co-ordinator for the Department for Transport's proposed amendment of the Air Navigation Order 2005 has not  (a) acknowledged and  (b) responded to correspondence from (i) a constituent of the hon. Member for Strangford and (ii) the hon. Member's constituency office acting on his behalf;
	(2)  what the role is of the consultation co-ordinator for the Department for Transport dealing with the Air Navigation Order 2005;
	(3)  how many letters the consultation co-ordinator has received in response to the consultation on the Air Navigation Order 2005; and how many responses he has made;
	(4)  how many emails the consultation co-ordinator for the Department for Transport dealing with the Air Navigation Order 2005 has received from those concerned with this matter; and how many responses he has sent.

Gillian Merron: holding answer 15 January 2007
	The consultation coordinator, who monitors the Department's compliance with the Government's code of practice on consultation, has received nine letters and 22 emails about the consultation on the Air Navigation Order 2005. I will reply to the hon. Member's letter on this issue shortly, and am arranging for replies to be sent to the other correspondents.

Air Transport

Mark Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the average number of flights per day was between London airports and  (a) Manchester,  (b) Glasgow,  (c) Edinburgh,  (d) Aberdeen,  (e) Cardiff and  (f) Newcastle in each year since 1997; what the average number of flights per day was between Cardiff and RAF Valley over the same period; and if he will make a statement.

Gillian Merron: The Department does not hold the information but it can be obtained from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). Contact details for CAA are on the following web page:
	http://www.caa.co.uk/default.aspx?categoryid=80&pagetype=90&pageid=74.

Aviation Emissions

Christopher Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what definition he uses of attributable to the UK in the context of carbon emissions from aircraft; what other definitions he has considered; and if he will make a statement.

Gillian Merron: Forecasts set out in The Future of Air Transport White Paper assume that the UK takes responsibility for emissions from all departing flights.
	Emissions from international flights do not currently count in the national inventories of greenhouse gas emissions, there being no international agreement yet on ways of allocating such emissions.

BAA

John Stanley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will write to the Chairman of BAA plc requesting him to reply to the letter of 10 October 2006 from the right hon. Member for Tonbridge and Malling.

Gillian Merron: The consideration of the right hon. Member's letter is a matter for BAA plc. I understand that the right hon. Member will receive a reply shortly.

Departmental Annual Report

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the  (a) cost and  (b) purpose is of the pump-priming support to which he refers on page 21 of his Department's 2006 annual report.

Stephen Ladyman: £18 million has been earmarked for Transport Innovation Fund pump-priming during the period 2005-06 to 2007-08. The purpose is to support initial scheme development by local transport authorities who are actively considering innovative ways to tackle congestion.

Departmental Annual Report

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the source is of the income provided by the Government Car and Despatch Agency referred to in figure 2b of his Department's 2006 annual report.

Stephen Ladyman: The Government Car and Despatch Agency (GCDA) is an executive agency of the Department for Transport and provides two main services, Government cars and Government mail, to Government and the wider public sector. Its framework document requires the agency to recover all its costs through charges to its customers. The income referred to in the Department for Transport's annual report 2006 represents the value of those charges.

Departmental Travel

Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what his Department's expenditure on foreign travel, including accommodation, was in  (a) 1996-97 and  (b) 2005-06.

Gillian Merron: The Department for Transport came into existence in May 2002 as a result of machinery of government changes.
	Details of ministerial travel are contained in the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 19 December 2006,  Official Report, column 1808W, to the hon. Member for Blaby (Mr. Robathan), which refers to the published annual list of overseas visits by Cabinet Ministers and includes the overall cost of all Ministers' overseas travel.
	Three of the Department's seven agencies (HA, VOSA, and GCDA) do not account for overseas travel by civil servants separately from other travel and associated costs. The figure for the central Department and the remaining agencies for 2005-06 is £3,429,740.

DVLA

Andrew Pelling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many names and addresses of drivers were sold by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency to third parties in  (a) December 2005 and  (b) December 2006.

Stephen Ladyman: The DVLA does not sell driver information. Where the law requires information on vehicles and their keepers to be released to third parties a fee is levied to cover the costs of the transaction only so that the burden does not fall on the tax payer. The DVLA does not collate the number of such transactions.

East Coast Mainline

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many companies have submitted expressions of interest in bidding for the East Coast Mainline rail franchise; and when he expects to announce the identity of the shortlisted bidders.

Tom Harris: Due to commercial sensitivity it is not DfT policy to provide the number of companies submitting an expression of interest. The expected announcement of who has been shortlisted will be made on 9 February 2007.

Government Car Service

Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the estimated annual average cost to the public purse is of providing a diesel Jaguar XJ ministerial car, including associated staff and running costs.

Stephen Ladyman: I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 8 November 2006,  Official Report, column 1574W, given to the hon. Member for Brentwood and Ongar (Mr. Pickles).

Government Car Service

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what categories of individuals are permitted to use vehicles from the Government Car Service.

Stephen Ladyman: The Prime Minister's guidance, Travel by Ministers, and the Ministerial Code, copies of which are available in the Libraries of the House, set out who is permitted to have an allocated car and driver provided by the Government Car and Despatch Agency.
	GCDA's short-term hire and green car services may be used by the civil service and the wider public sector. It is for each Government Department or public body to determine use.

Government Car Service

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many  (a) people were employed and  (b) vehicles were owned by the Government Car Service in (i) 2001 and (ii) 2006.

Stephen Ladyman: Information on the number of people employed by the Government Car Service and its fleet size is available in the annual report and accounts of the Government Car and Despatch Agency, copies of which are available in the Libraries of the House.

Helicopter Noise

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the answer of 5 December 2006,  Official Report, column 230W, on helicopter noise, what the conclusions were of the meeting held with representatives of the London Assembly's Environmental Committee to discuss the recommendations in the committee's report, "London in a spin—A review of helicopter noise"; and if he will make a statement.

Gillian Merron: I held a very constructive and productive meeting with representatives of the London Assembly's Environment Committee. We agreed on two key priorities which were the improvement of data collection with a central database and a clear complaints procedure for the public. The Department will be taking these issues forward in dialogue with the Civil Aviation Authority, National Air Traffic Services and the Committee.

Light Dues System

Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of the value of the Irish subsidy component of the light dues system in  (a) 2006-07 and  (b) future financial years.

Stephen Ladyman: The contribution from the General Lighthouse Fund to the provision of aids to navigation in the Republic of Ireland is expected to outturn at around £6.8 million in 2006-07, and is forecast at £7.0 million in 2007-08. The General Lighthouse Authority's corporate planning process does not yet provide for estimates beyond 2007-08.

Motor Scooters

David Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what limits he imposes on emissions from motor scooters; and if he will take action to remove from public roads the most polluting motor scooters.

Stephen Ladyman: Emission limits for motorcycles and mopeds are set by European Union (EU) Directive 97/24/EC, as amended by 2002/51/EC. These directives set mandatory emission limits for new motorcycles and mopeds. Three successive stages of emissions limits were introduced for motorcycles and two for mopeds. All new machines must now meet the following emissions limits:
	
		
			  g/km 
			   Carbon monoxide  Hydrocarbons  Oxides of nitrogen 
			 Motorcycles 2.0 0.8 0.15 
			 Mopeds 1.0 (1)1.2 
			 (1) HC+NOx 
		
	
	There are no plans to remove particular motorcycles or mopeds from the roads. New vehicle emissions limits combined with normal fleet turnover ensure that higher emitting vehicles are removed from the fleet over time.
	Motorcycles and mopeds continue to be a very small contributor to total road transport emissions.

Oyster Card

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the answer of 13 December 2006,  Official Report, columns 1068-69W, on the Oyster Card, when he expects to receive a report on the work between his Department and Transport for London.

Stephen Ladyman: The report on the Department's research referred to in my previous answer will be published on the Department's website by the end of January. Copies of the report will be placed in both House Libraries.
	Discussions between the Department and Transport for London are ongoing. Transport for London is undertaking a detailed technical scoping study to identify the changes required to ensure all Oyster equipment is ITSO compliant. Publication of this report is a matter for Transport for London.

Public Finance Contracts

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what  (a) public-private partnerships and  (b) private finance initiative contracts have been entered into by his Department; what assets were transferred to the private sector as part of each deal; what the value of these assets was; what the total cost is of each contract; and what estimate was made of the cost to his Department of traditional procurement over the life of each contract.

Gillian Merron: A table with estimated total capital value, estimated total unitary charges payments and the conventional public sector comparator for PFI projects overseen by the Department for Transport that have reached financial close has been placed in the Libraries of the House.
	No assets were transferred to the private sector as part of these deals.
	PFI capital values typically refer to the cost of constructing project assets. The cost information in the table is an estimate of these costs. They are estimated costs because it is a feature of PFI contracts that responsibility for construction risk is transferred to the contractor. The final cost is the responsibility of the contractor. The construction cost is an element of the unitary charge payment. The total unitary charge is a projection that covers payment for both the construction cost and other costs that arise from delivering the service. These typically include the cost of maintenance, managing the service, and operational activities over the duration of the contract. The estimated unitary charge may vary over the duration of a contract as it reflects changes in the indexation of payments, usage related-payments, contract deductions and service changes.

Rail Services

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what role his Department played in the recent major reconfiguration of the timetable introduced by First Great Western.

Tom Harris: The detailed construction of the timetable is a matter for First Great Western working within the framework provided by the Department for Transport's (DfT) minimum specification. Where desirable changes have been identified, the DfT has made changes to the specification if this has proved necessary to facilitate their implementation.

Road Pricing

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether he plans to mitigate the effect of the cost of road pricing on low-income families; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen Ladyman: We are asking local authorities, in preparing proposals for road pricing schemes, to assess the impact on all groups, including those on low incomes, to inform the scheme design.
	No decisions have been taken on whether to introduce a national road pricing scheme or how such a scheme should be designed.

Royal Mail

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much his Department spent using Royal Mail in each of the last five years.

Gillian Merron: The Department was formed in May 2002. Since this date the central Department and its agencies have paid the following amounts to Royal Mail:
	
		
			   £ million 
			 2002-03 13.1 
			 2003-04 19.0 
			 2004-05 24.9 
			 2005-06 20.4 
			 2006-07 (To date) 15.0 
		
	
	Total payments for 2002-03 and 2003-04 exclude payments made by the Department for Transport (central) London Headquarters because this information is no longer available.
	Total payments for 2006-07 to date include an estimate by DVLA.

Safety Cameras

Gary Streeter: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many speed cameras there were in Plymouth on  (a) 31 December 2000 and  (b) 31 December 2006.

Stephen Ladyman: The Department only holds information regarding the number of speed camera sites operated by Safety Camera Partnerships. There may be one or more speed cameras installed within the approved site. The information is recorded by highway authority and the following table relates to the number of fixed and mobile speed camera sites recorded on local authority roads within the Plymouth city council area at the specific dates.
	
		
			   Number 
			 31 December 2000 18 
			 31 December 2006 39

Traffic Management Act

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he expects to bring regulations under the Traffic Management Act 2004 into force.

Gillian Merron: The Department for Transport is currently implementing several parts of the Act to a published timetable. This is available at the address as follows.
	http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_roads/documents/page/dft_roads_040926.hcsp
	The implementation dates for some later aspects of the timetable have yet to be finalised.

DEFENCE

Aerial Exercises

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what rules govern aerial exercises over urban conurbations in the UK by  (a) the Royal Air Force and  (b) the United States Air Force; and if he will make a statement.

Derek Twigg: holding answer 4 December 2006
	Military low flying is not permitted over towns and built up areas with populations of more than 10,000. For this purpose low flying is deemed to be below the 1,000 feet minimum separation distance for helicopters and light fixed wing aircraft; and below the 2,000 feet minimum separation distance for all other aircraft. Above these heights urban areas may be overflown, unless other airspace restrictions apply; however, air combat training is not permitted over densely populated areas. Permission to fly lower may exceptionally be granted for ceremonial flypasts. These regulations apply to both RAF and United States Air Force aircraft.

Airspace

Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the likely impact of the EU proposal to treat all airspace above 25,000 feet as European airspace on military aviation operations by British and US forces.

Adam Ingram: The EC initiative to establish a European upper flight information region encompassing all airspace above 28,500 feet is not expected have any impact on military aviation operations by British and US forces based in the UK.

Annual Personnel Weapons Test

Andrew MacKinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the average pass rate was of the annual personnel weapons test among part-time service personnel in each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement.

Derek Twigg: The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Armoured Vehicles

Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he expects the first batch of  (a) uparmoured FV430s and  (b) Vector armoured vehicles to be fully operational in (i) Iraq and (ii) Afghanistan; and what his estimated timetable is for the delivery of the remaining vehicles.

Adam Ingram: The first batch of BULLDOG vehicles (up-armoured and upgraded FV430s) has arrived in Iraq and is fully operational. On current plans, delivery of the full fleet should be completed by May 2007. Currently there are no plans to deploy BULLDOG to Afghanistan.
	On current plans, an initial batch of fully operational VECTOR vehicles should be delivered to Afghanistan by February 2007. Delivery of the full fleet should be completed by August 2007. There are currently no plans to deploy VECTOR to Iraq.

Defence Expenditure: Iraq/Afghanistan

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the cost has been of British involvement in  (a) Afghanistan and  (b) Iraq since the start of the campaigns.

Adam Ingram: The costs of operations are calculated on a net additional basis and audited figures are published each year in the MOD's annual report and accounts. The total of the annual audited figures for the costs of operations in Iraq for the years 2002-03 to 2005-06 was £4,026 million. An estimated cost of £860 million for 2006-07 was included in the winter supplementary estimates published in November, which are available in the Library of the House. Final figures will be published in the MOD's annual report and accounts for 2006-07.
	The annual audited figures for the costs of operations in Afghanistan for the years 2001-02 to 2005-06 were £844 million. An estimated cost of £540 million for 2006-07 was included in the winter supplementary estimates published in November. Final figures will be published in the MOD's annual report and accounts for 2006-07.

Energy Security Policy

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what contribution his Department makes to the  (a) formulation and  (b) implementation of the Government's energy security policy.

Derek Twigg: While the DTI has lead responsibility for the Government's energy security policy, the MOD and a number of other Government Departments contribute to its formulation and implementation. The MOD contributes through promoting conditions which enhance stability around the world, such as through its conflict prevention activities and the provision of assurance to maritime and other trade routes.

Government Security Service Contracts

Mark Durkan: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether Aegis Security Services has been invited by his Department to tender for Government security service contracts in  (a) Afghanistan,  (b) Iraq and  (c) elsewhere.

Adam Ingram: We have no record of Aegis Security Services tendering for MOD contracts in Afghanistan, Iraq, or any other operational theatres, nor do we have any record of them being invited to do so.

Housing

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many officers in each of the Services have rented out their family home and moved into local married quarters in each of the last five years.

Derek Twigg: The information required is not held centrally and can be made available only at disproportionate cost.

Infantry Manning Levels

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the most recent  (a) current,  (b) establishment and  (c) requirement infantry manning levels are, broken down by (i) division and (ii) battalion.

Derek Twigg: holding answer 17 January 2007
	I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 31 October 2006,  Official Report, column 333W.

Iraq

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the standard period of operational duty is for UK troops serving in Iraq.

Adam Ingram: The standard period of operational duty for UK troops serving in Iraq is six months. However, operational circumstances may dictate that certain individuals and/or units may serve less or more than six months.

Israeli Air Force: Gibraltar Refuelling

George Galloway: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether Israeli air force pilots have  (a) trained and  (b) refuelled in Gibraltar in each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement.

Adam Ingram: No, and no.

Mental Health: Service Personnel

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what research and modelling his Department is undertaking of future mental health outcomes for personnel deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq; what assessment he has made of the risk of these personnel developing mental health conditions; and if he will make a statement.

Derek Twigg: holding answer 13 December 2006
	I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 18 December 2006,  Official Report, columns 1481-83W.
	With reference to the much larger Kings College Mental Health Research study, the MOD's Veterans Policy Unit has extended the health surveillance study that was launched to look at the physical and psychological outcomes of Op. Telic. This will now also monitor a range of physical and psychological outcomes of Op. Herrick. Data collection will commence in 2007, with results anticipated in 2008.
	Additionally, the Academic Centre for Defence Mental Health (ACDMH) has been invited to run a study examining the effectiveness of pre- and post- deployment mental health briefings on the mental health of British forces personnel before, during and after deployment to Afghanistan (Op. Herrick). This study will be run between September 2007 and April 2008, with results anticipated in mid-2008.

Military Aircraft: Biofuels

Adam Holloway: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the prospects for the use of biofuels for military aircraft.

Adam Ingram: At present there are no aviation fuels produced from biological sources which entirely meet the particular requirements of military aircraft. Current military turbine engines would need considerable modification to be compatible with bio-fuels and this is unlikely in the near future.
	The MOD is, however, seeking to increase its use of alternative fuels and Defence Specification 91-91 allows for the incorporation of up to 50 per cent. synthetic fuel produced by the Fischer Tropsch method. At present this must come from specified sources, but we are actively seeking to extend the number of sources while maintaining the necessary high fuel quality.

Naval Bases

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the cost of running each of the naval bases in the UK was in each of the last three years.

Adam Ingram: The running costs for HM Naval Base (HMNB) Clyde, Devonport and Portsmouth over the last three years are shown in the following table:
	
		
			  £ million 
			  Financial year  HMNB Clyde  HMNB Devonport  HMNB Portsmouth 
			 2003-04 202 179 158 
			 2004-05 189 185 146 
			 2005-06 183 185 151 
		
	
	These figures represent the general site operating costs and include utilities, rates, telephone, maintenance and manpower costs. Direct comparisons from year to year are inexact given the changes to the detailed elements which make up the totals.

Naval Bases

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what job losses are planned at each naval base in the UK.

Adam Ingram: Each of the three naval bases continually reviews the level of manpower required to meet its particular outputs.
	By the end of March 2008 it is anticipated that there will be 86 fewer civilian posts in HM Naval Base (HMNB) Devonport and 36 fewer service personnel. HMNB Clyde anticipates a reduction of 50.5 civilian posts by the end of 2007. Service manpower will also be reduced by some 55 occupied and 26 unoccupied posts between 2007 and 2010. No reductions are expected in HMNB Portsmouth.
	The Naval Base Review, which is examining the infrastructure needed to support the Royal Navy, may give rise to further reductions. It is however too soon to say how many or where as the review is at a very early stage, and it is unlikely that the recommendations will be finalised before spring 2007.

Naval Bases

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his timetable is for  (a) the publication of the naval bases review and  (b) the implementation of any recommendations; and if he will make a statement.

Adam Ingram: The Naval Base Review is ongoing and its recommendations are not expected to be finalised before spring 2007, after which they will be subject to the MOD's internal scrutiny and approvals process. The current expectation is for an announcement before the parliamentary summer recess. It is too early to say what the implementation time scale will be as this will depend on the option chosen. Final decisions will be subject to formal trade union consultation.

Nuclear Weapons Use

Ian Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether the UK would be prepared to use nuclear weapons against a  (a) nuclear and  (b) non-nuclear adversary; under what circumstances the UK would use nuclear weapons; and if he will make a statement.

Des Browne: I have nothing to add to paragraph 2-11 and section 3 of the White Paper 'The Future of the United Kingdom's Nuclear Deterrent' (Cm 6994), published on 4 December 2006, copies of which are available in the Library of the House. We would only consider using nuclear weapons in self-defence and even then only in extreme circumstances.

Number 1 Independent Infantry Company

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what records have been kept by his Department in relation to the Number 1 Independent Infantry Company based in Malaya during the second world war.

Derek Twigg: The principal unit records from the second world war were unit war diaries. They are no longer held by MOD, but have been transferred to The National Archives. I can advise that The National Archives holds two files that relate to 1 Independent Infantry Company, under the references WO 172/208, entitled "1 Independent Infantry Company April-September 1941, November 1941-January 1942"; and CAB 106/36, entitled "Account of the Formation, Role, and Operations of No. 1 Independent Infantry Company in Malaya 1941-1942".
	The Department continues to hold personnel records of soldiers who served in the second world war and some are likely to cover individuals who served in 1 Independent Infantry Company. Such records are not indexed on a unit basis and it is therefore not possible to identify soldiers from the unit without incurring disproportionate cost.

Royal Marine Reserves

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the  (a) inflow and  (b) outflow was of the Royal Marines Reserves in each year since 1997.

Derek Twigg: The following table provides inflow and outflow figures for Royal Marine Reservists for each complete financial year from 1999.
	
		
			   Total inflow  Total outflow 
			 1999-2000 480 330 
			 2000-01 330 240 
			 2001-02 280 360 
			 2002-03 310 400 
			 2003-04 190 280 
			 2004-05 150 320 
			 2005-06 300 210 
		
	
	Data prior to 1999 are not available.

Royal Navy: Reduced Readiness

Tobias Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence which Royal Navy ships will be placed into reduced readiness; and when this is expected to take place.

Adam Ingram: The Royal Navy routinely has vessels at varying levels of readiness. This allows necessary maintenance and refits to be carried out and training to be undertaken. Decisions on whether to make adjustments to the readiness states of warships will be taken in the MOD's current planning round, the results of which are currently planned to be announced in the spring of this year.

Royal Navy Expenditure

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the projected spending by his Department is on the Royal Navy in each of the next five years; what assessment he has made of such spending on  (a) current and  (b) future operational capacity; and if he will make a statement.

Des Browne: The defence budget is not broken down by individual service. Tables two and three of the Government's expenditure plans for 2006-07 to 2007-08, Ministry of Defence (Cmd 6822), show the current resource and capital spending plans of the fleet top level budget in the years 2005-06 to 2007-08. This covers the main operating and personnel costs of the Royal Navy. Spending plans for future years are being reviewed in the current departmental planning round and will also be shaped by the outcome of the Comprehensive Spending Review, which will set the Defence budget for 2008-09 to 2010-11.

Royal Navy Frigates

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many  (a) Type 22 and  (b) Type 42 frigates are in operation with the Royal Navy; and how many will be in operation in 2009-10.

Adam Ingram: There are currently four Type 22 frigates and eight Type 42 destroyers in operation within the Royal Navy fleet.
	On present plans there will continue to be four Type 22 frigates at the end of financial year (FY) 2009-10. Three of the Type 42 destroyers will have been withdrawn from service by the end of FY 2009-10 as these ships begin to be replaced by the new Type 45 destroyers.

Royal Navy Personnel

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many Royal Navy personnel are currently serving aboard ship away from home; and what proportion of total naval personnel this represents.

Adam Ingram: The total number of Royal Navy personnel serving on board ships at sea on 9 January 2007 was 3,486. This figure constitutes 9.9 per cent. of the full-time trained strength.

Service Personnel: Telephone Calls

Richard Benyon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many minutes of free telephone calls service men and women are allowed each week whilst serving on operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Adam Ingram: holding answer 19 December 2006
	The free welfare telephone allowance for service personnel serving on operations has recently been increased from 20 to 30 minutes per week at a cost of some £l million.

Special Air Service

Mark Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  what systems are in place to investigate possible cases of fraud and corruption in the special air service;
	(2)  how many investigations into possible fraud in the special air service have been carried out in each of the last three years.

Adam Ingram: The systems in place to investigate possible cases of fraud and corruption in the special air service (SAS) are in line with those of the wider Army. Like all other members of the armed forces, SAS personnel are covered by the military criminal justice system and are subject to the service discipline Acts. Primary responsibility for investigating any allegations of fraud or corruption will lie with either the Royal Military Police Special Investigation Branch or the Ministry of Defence Police Fraud Squad, depending on the nature and jurisdiction of the alleged offence. There has been one investigation into possible fraud in the SAS in the last three years and this is ongoing.

Thermal Imaging

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer of 5 January 2007,  Official Report, column 110W, on thermal imaging, what his timetable is for the delivery of additional sights to front line troops.

Adam Ingram: An order has been placed to deliver 100 lightweight thermal imaging sights to the Army by the end of February and a further 300 sights by the end of March. The subsequent delivery of this equipment to operational theatres is a matter for military commanders.

Tour Intervals

Liam Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the average tour intervals were for each unit deployed in  (a) Kosovo and  (b) Bosnia.

Des Browne: One unit now deploys into the Bosnia and Kosovo theatre and is known as the Pan Balkans Infantry Battalion. Currently this role is filled by the 1st Battalion, the Welsh Guards, who have an average tour interval of 18 months.

Type 45 Destroyers

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the estimated cost is of the six Type 45 destroyers to be procured by his Department; and what the estimated cost was of the eight which were originally planned to be procured.

Adam Ingram: The estimated cost for six Type 45 Destroyers as detailed in Major Project Review (MPR) 2006 is £6,110 million (including cost of capital).
	Whilst the Type 45 capability requirement remains for up to eight ships, the Department only currently has an approved programme for six.

Weaponry

Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the answer of 7 November 2006,  Official Report, column 1502W, on weaponry, which of the weapons listed are capable of being physically carried by personnel in theatre on foot.

Adam Ingram: The following can be carried by personnel in theatre on foot:
	General Purpose Machine Gun (GPMG). Calibre 7.62 mm
	81 mm Medium Mortar
	Javelin Anti Tank Guided Weapon
	Long Range Rifle. Calibre 8.6 mm

HEALTH

Bio Products Laboratory

Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much the Bio Products Laboratory spent on the purchase of 24 plasma collection centres belonging to Life Resources Incorporated in the United States in the last five years; what revenue benefit to NHS Blood and Transplant these investments have produced; and what assessment she has made of the future of these facilities.

Caroline Flint: Bio Products Laboratory has not purchased 24 plasma collection centres belonging to Life Resources Incorporated.
	In December 2002, the Department purchased the United States (US) plasma collector Life Resources Incorporated. This acquisition included the purchase of 24 centres collecting blood plasma from donors across the US. A press release issued on 17 December 2002 provides details of the acquisition including cost and is available at:
	www.dh.gov.uk/PublicationsAndStatistics/PressReleases/PressReleasesNotices/fs/en?CONTENT_ID=4026006&chk=oaRaxa
	A US holding company, DCI Biologicals Inc, was established to manage the business. DCI Biologicals reports to the United Kingdom parent company, Plasma Resources UK Limited, owned by the Secretary of State for Health.
	The Department is leading a review to identify and explore opportunities to improve Bio Products Laboratory business and this review includes DCI Biologicals Inc.

Cholesterol

Andrew Love: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress has been made in reducing  (a) total cholesterol and  (b) low density lipoprotein cholesterol levels among patients at high risk of cardiovascular disease in England; and if she will make a statement.

Rosie Winterton: Information is not available in the form requested. However, the new general medical services (GMS) contract specification encourages primary care practices to identify patients who have suffered from coronary heart disease (CHD), strokes and diabetes and to control cholesterol in those patients. The following tables show the percentage of available points achieved against these indicators across England, demonstrating that general practitioner practices are making good progress in improving control of cholesterol in patients with cardiovascular disease.
	The applicable quality and outcomes framework (QOF) indicators and the overall percentages are shown as follows:
	
		
			  CHD 8—the percentage of patients with CHD whose last measured total cholesterol (measured in the last 15 months) is 5mmol/l or less 
			  QOF year  Overall percentage CHD 8 for England 
			 2004-05 72 
			 2005-06 78 
		
	
	
		
			  Stroke 8—the percentage of patients with TIA or stroke whose last measured total cholesterol (measured in the last 15 months) is 5mmol/l or less 
			  QOF year  Overall percentage stroke 8 for England 
			 2004-05 63 
			 2005-06 72 
		
	
	
		
			  DM 17—the percentage of patients with diabetes whose last measured total cholesterol within previous 15 months is 5mmol/or less 
			  QOF year  Overall percentage DM 17 for England 
			 2004-05 72 
			 2005-06 79 
			  Note:  Some patients may be excluded from the indicator because of exceptions and exclusions. Only patients registered with a general practice participating in QOF will be included.

Cholesterol

Andrew Love: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will consider adopting the recommendations of the Joint British Societies guidelines on the prevention of cardiovascular disease in clinical practice in relation to  (a) total cholesterol levels and  (b) low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels for higher risk patients; and if she will make a statement.

Rosie Winterton: Department policy on cholesterol targets is set out in the national service framework for coronary heart disease (CHD), and reflected in key drivers of practice such as the quality and outcomes framework of the general medical services contract.
	The Joint British Societies guidelines are welcomed as a contribution to policy development but they do not update the Department's policy. The principal mechanism for this is the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE). NICE is currently working on guidance on lipid management, due out later this year. That guidance will set out any revisions to current policy on targets for controlling cholesterol.

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

John Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations she has received from  (a) organisations and  (b) members of the public on the draft National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidance for treatment of chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis; how many of these representations relate to the possible effect of such guidance on children and young people; and what plans she has to ask NICE to address concerns raised about the draft guidance.

Ivan Lewis: The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) published its draft clinical guideline on chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis for consultation on 29 September 2006. Since that date the Department has received, as of 17 January, 12 written representations concerned with this guideline. Of these, 11 were from hon. Members and the remaining one was from a member of the public.
	Information on whether these representations relate to the possible effect of such guidance on children and young people is not readily available.
	NICE's consultation on this guideline closed on 24 November. Comments arising from consultation will be considered by the guideline developers and posted on the NICE website after the final guideline is published.

Data Disaggregation

Howard Stoate: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance she has issued to the NHS on disaggregating data by gender.

Rosie Winterton: The Department has not issued specific guidance in this area, but the NHS Data Dictionary produced by Connecting for Health uses the definitions given in the United Kingdom Government data standards catalogue to identify individuals by gender.

Departmental Staff

Michael Fallon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the effective date is for annual pay awards to her Department's staff; and what the actual implementation date was in each of the last five years.

Ivan Lewis: The effective date is 1 August.
	The actual dates for payment of increased salaries are as follows:
	
		
			  Pay year  Month in which payment made 
			 2002 August 2002 
			 2003 January 2004 
			 2004 November 2004 
			 2005 November 2005 
			 2006 December 2006(1) 
			 (1) Two-year deal.

Equality Act

Howard Stoate: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what guidance she has issued to primary care trusts on meeting the obligations of the Equality Act 2006 on gender equality duty;
	(2)  what support she has made available to primary care trusts to enable them to comply with the requirements of the Equality Act 2006 gender duties.

Rosie Winterton: The Department has undertaken a number of activities to promote equality issues in the national health service (NHS), including the forthcoming gender equality duty, and particularly to support the NHS in meeting its responsibilities under the gender duty. The Department's strategy for promoting gender equality in the NHS is to set action on gender issues within the overall framework for planning and delivering the Department's and the NHS's priorities.
	The Department has worked closely with NHS organisations to prepare them for the gender duty when it comes into force in April this year. A detailed programme of work is in place to ensure the implementation of the gender duty across the whole health sector. These include:
	Developing and publishing a gender equality duty guide to assist NHS organisations to meet the duties of the gender duty legislation. This will be available at the end of January.
	Publishing "Promoting Equality and Human Rights in the NHS—a Guide for Board Members", which is aimed at helping non-executive board members take forward the issues of equality and human rights with regard to patients and the workforce. The guide outlines the legislative framework and the principles that underpin equality and human rights. It demonstrates the business case for promoting and delivering equality and human rights, and includes a set of prompts for boards to take stock of how fairly their organisations treat their patients and workforce. The guide incorporates current and imminent legislation and includes all board members. This guide is available on the Department's website.
	Working with inspectorate bodies and the Equal Opportunities Commission to ensure that gender equality issues are integrated into inspection arrangements and sector- specific guidance is provided to help the health sector promote gender equality;
	organising a conference for the NHS in November 2006. This was aimed at creating and enhancing awareness of the meaning of gender and its relevance to health, increasing understanding of the general and specific duties of the gender duty and providing information and guidance on the implementation of the specific duties.
	The Department's equality and human rights group is leading a project aimed at supporting the equalities agenda through the development of single equality schemes (SES) in the NHS. The project has been set up in anticipation of possible further duties in relation to age, religion and belief and sexual orientation and plans to encourage work to pull together the different equality strands without compromising any of the individual elements in a cross-cutting and coherent fashion. Project leads provide support in terms of expertise in the field of equalities legislation, facilitating partnerships and joined- up working, research, sharing of good practice and producing guidance. Project leads also provide specific guidance on the gender and disability duties. The organisations involved are committed to producing a single equality scheme and will collectively produce learning that identifies the different steps required to meet both current and likely duties which will be meaningful to the host of diverse organisations within the NHS. Development and outcomes from all the programmes outlined above will be shared and disseminated throughout the NHS.
	The pacesetters programme headed by the equality and human rights group is a programme that places equality including gender equality at the heart of NHS business, organisational objectives and core values, impacting upon future health planning, performance management and delivery. The Group is working with up to five strategic health authorities to deliver equality and diversity improvements and innovations resulting in:
	patient and user involvement in the design and delivery of services;
	reduced health inequalities for patients and service users; and
	working environments that are fair and free of discrimination.
	The participating SHAs launched their local involvement in the programme in November 2006.

Equality Act

Howard Stoate: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance has been issued to primary care trusts on ensuring services provided for the NHS by independent contractors comply with the requirements of the Equality Act 2006 gender duties.

Rosie Winterton: The Department's commercial directorate has negotiated with its contractors a requirement for all independent sector providers of services to operate in accordance with all applicable law including the Equality Act 2006.
	The Department is currently developing a gender equality duty guide to assist national health service organisations meet the duties of the gender duty legislation. This guide outlines partnership working between NHS organisations, its partners and its contractors and the need to secure agreement from partners or contractors to give due regard to gender equality in relation to the work of the partnership to allow it to meet its statutory gender duty. This guide will be available at the end of January.

Equality Act

Howard Stoate: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance she has sent to providers of NHS sexual health services about meeting the requirements of the Equality Act 2006 gender duties.

Rosie Winterton: The Department's programme to improve sexual health specifically targets the populations at risk of poor sexual health and this work fits closely with the equality agenda identified in the Act. In terms of gender and sexual health, women are particularly at risk of poor sexual health through unintended pregnancies and risk of infertility from undiagnosed sexually transmitted infections.
	The Department is currently developing a gender equality duty guide to assist the national health service meet the duties of the gender duty legislation and it will be published at the end of January 2007. This guide will be available to all NHS organisations and will be accessible on the Department's website.

Equality Act

Howard Stoate: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what advice she has sent to providers of NHS mental health services about meeting the requirements of the Equality Act 2006 gender duties.

Rosie Winterton: The National Institute for Mental Health in England (NIMHE) is currently seeking to rationalise its workstreams in order to focus its efforts more effectively. Work is currently in progress to bring together the existing programmes on public mental health (including mental health promotion and suicide prevention), social inclusion and anti-stigma and discrimination into a single wellbeing and inclusion workstream.
	The Department's guidance on 'Promoting Equality and Human Rights in the NHS—a Guide for Board Members' is aimed at helping non-executive board members take forward the issues of equality and human rights with regard to patients and the workforce. The guide outlines the legislative framework and the principles that underpin equality and human rights. It demonstrates the business case for promoting and delivering equality and human rights, and includes a set of prompts for boards to take stock of how fairly their organisations treat their patients and workforce. The guide incorporates current and imminent legislation and includes all board members. This guide is available on the Department's website.
	The Department is currently developing a gender equality duty guide to assist the national health service meet the duties of the gender duty legislation and it will be published at the end of January 2007. This guide will be available to all NHS organisations and will be accessible on the Department's website.

Expatriate Medical Care

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much was transferred to other European Union governments to cover the cost of medical care for British expatriates in each year since 2001.

Rosie Winterton: The national health service is responsible for providing healthcare cover only for those British expatriates who are entitled to an exportable social security benefit under the terms of Regulations (EEC) 1408/71 and 574/72.
	The table shows, in resource terms, the estimated costs of healthcare cover provided to persons insured in the UK and residing in other EEA member states or Switzerland under the terms of Regulations (EEC) 1408/71 and 574/72. These are estimated claims in according with existing arrangements under the Regulation 574/72.
	
		
			   Lump sum claims (£000) 
			 2001 205,200 
			 2002 254,800 
			 2003 327,200 
			 2004 383,500 
			 2005 408,100 
			  Notes: 1. The information is compiled in line with the requirements of "Government Accounting 2000" and the National Audit Office (NAO) and were used for resource accounting and budgeting (RAB) purposes during 2005-06. 2. Figures are in thousands and rounded to the nearest thousand. 3. Lump sums claims are mainly for the UK state pensioners residing in other member state

Human Papilloma Virus

John Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the answer of 12 December 2006,  Official Report, columns 1031-2W, on the Human Papilloma Virus vaccination, what the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation's Subgroup on the Human Papilloma Virus will discuss when it meets on 28 February; and what further evidence the subgroup is awaiting.

Caroline Flint: The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation subgroup will discuss, based on new information presented at the meeting, the most appropriate age for vaccination; whether there is an advantage in offering the vaccine to boys as well as girls; and the evidence on a vaccination catch-up programme.
	The subgroup is examining the health benefits and cost effectiveness of introducing a Human Papilloma Virus vaccine, based on United Kingdom data. In particular, UK data are required on age-specific HPV infection rates by HPV type and single years of life for females aged 11 to 29 years.

Interpreters

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how much was spent by the NHS on interpreters in the last year for which figures are available;
	(2)  what recent estimate she has made of the amount of money spent by the NHS on providing information in foreign languages; and if she will make a statement.

Rosie Winterton: National health service organisations are not required to report their planned or actual spending on interpretation and translation services to the Department. Therefore, it is not possible to provide an estimate of spending at this time.
	When planning interpretation and translation services, NHS organisations should take due account of their legal duties, the composition of the communities they serve, and the needs and circumstances of their patients, service users and local populations.
	The Government have established the independent Commission on Integration and Cohesion to look at Government policies and public services and to report in 2007. As part of its brief, the commission will look at the provision of language services across Government. The Department will fully support the commission in its work.

LINks

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations she has received on the establishment of LINks; and if she will make a statement.

Rosie Winterton: There were almost 500 responses to "A stronger local voice", concerning our plans for patient and public involvement, including the establishment of local involvement networks (LINks). We had also received a great deal of feedback through our stakeholder engagement. This feedback has been taken on board wherever possible and has helped to shape our plans for how LINks will work. This is reflected in the Government response document to "A stronger local voice", copies of which are available in the Library.

Mental Health

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what her Department's strategic priorities are for the mental health services; and if she will make a statement.

Rosie Winterton: The Department published "The NHS in England: operating framework for 2007-08" on 11 December 2006. This states that the national health service must meet the following mental health objectives by the end of 2007 to sustain improvements in mental health:
	to recruit 500 community development workers to help improve the mental health of people from black and minority ethnic backgrounds, by December 2007; and
	to commission services for the estimated 7,500 new cases each year of people needing early intervention.
	The Department's other priorities for mental health services are: to improve access to psychological therapies; to deliver race equality; to increase further the uptake of crisis resolution services as an alternative to hospital inpatient admissions; and, to investigate further whether a system of payment by results can be implemented in mental health services.

NHS Dentistry

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of the NHS budget was spent on the promotion of improved dental/oral hygiene in 2005-06; and if she will make a statement.

Rosie Winterton: Oral health promotion can take the form of educational and awareness campaigns aimed at population groups, or personal information and advice given by dentists, hygienists or other members of primary and community dental teams in the course of examining or treating individual patients. Information on local oral health promotion campaigns is not collected centrally, although over the period 2003 to 2006 the Department contributed £1.1 million to pilot the "Brushing for Life" scheme, which is intended to get families with young children into the habit of brushing their teeth regularly with fluoride toothpaste. Nor is it possible to quantify what proportion of the activity, supported by the £2.2 billion gross budget in 2005-06 for national health service primary dental care services, contributed to raising awareness of oral hygiene and the prevention of dental disease. One of the Government's objectives in introducing from April 2006 local commissioning arrangements for primary dental care services and changing the basis of remuneration for dental practices away from item of service fees was to give dentists more scope to focus on preventative care. Primary care trusts are also now required to provide oral health promotion programmes to the extent that they consider it necessary to meet all reasonable requirements within their areas. To assist them we published an oral health plan for England, "Choosing Better Oral Health", in November 2005.

NHS Dentistry

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will take steps to ensure that dentists are paid a fee for each filling they undertake on the NHS dental tariff; and if she will make a statement.

Rosie Winterton: There are no plans to return to a fee-per-item remuneration system. The contractual arrangements introduced in April 2006 give dentists the stability of an agreed annual contract sum, in return for carrying out an agreed number of courses of treatment, with a weighting for relative complexity, over the course of the year. This is designed to support dentists in carrying out simpler, more clinically appropriate courses of treatment without financial detriment. It also responds to long-standing representations from dentists and from the British Dental Association criticising the treadmill nature of the former fee-per-item system.

Psychological Therapies

Adam Afriyie: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the merits of introducing waiting time measures for psychological therapies in the national health service.

Rosie Winterton: The Department is currently working with the Healthcare Commission to consider the impact of performance measures in this area of mental health service delivery.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Craigantlet Quarry

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what meetings there have been between Water Service and Tarmac Ltd. to discuss further development of the company's quarry at Craigantlet in the North Down constituency.

David Cairns: The Chief Executive of Water Service (Mrs. Katharine Bryan) has written to the hon. Lady in response to this question.
	 Letter from Mrs. Katharine Bryan, dated 18 January 2007:
	You recently asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland a Parliamentary Question about what meetings there have been between Water Service and Tarmac Limited to discuss further development of the company's quarry at Craigantlet in the North Down Constituency 115770. I have been asked to reply as this issue falls within my responsibility as Chief Executive of Water Service.
	The Water Service land adjacent to Tarmac Limited's quarry at Craigantlet was declared surplus on 30 May 2003. In accordance with Government Policy on the disposal of such land, it was initially offered to other Government Departments and Agencies. As no interest was declared, it was referred to the Valuation & Lands Agency for valuation and a sale/option to purchase was agreed. The sale of the land is subject to the approval of Planning permission.
	Since further development of the quarry is now an issue between Tarmac Limited and the Department of the Environment's Planning Service, there have been no meetings between Water Service and Tarmac Limited.

Departmental Equipment

Mark Francois: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many of his Department's  (a) computers and  (b) laptops were stolen in each of the last nine years; and what the total value was of stolen computers and laptops in this period.

Paul Goggins: The details of computers and laptops reported as stolen within the NIO are as follows:
	
		
			   Item  Value (£) 
			 2006-07 One laptop stolen from flight 1,500.00 
			 2005-06 — 0 
			 2004-05 — 0 
			 2003-04 One laptop stolen from hotel room 1,500.00 
			 2002-03 One hand held computer 350.00 
			 2001-02 One PC equipment stolen from civil representative's offices (1)— 
			  One laptop stolen from the Community Safety Centre 1,500.00 
			 2000-01 — 0 
			 1999-2000 One laptop stolen from offices 4,500.00 
			 1998-99 One laptop stolen from officer's home 3,000.00 
			 1997-98 No records available 0 
			 Total  10,850.00 
			 (1) Old equipment—value negligible

Official Residences

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland where each of his official residences is located; and what the annual running cost is of each residence.

Peter Hain: When in Northern Ireland I reside at Hillsborough Castle. The facilities at Hillsborough Castle are also used to provide official hospitality and overnight accommodation for members of the royal family, visiting dignitaries and diplomats. Other activities at the castle include departmental meetings, the annual garden party and citizenship ceremonies. In addition to its use by the Northern Ireland Office and other Government Departments, charities and local community groups can request to use the facilities, generally for fund raising purposes, and the castle and grounds are open at certain times of the year for guided tours.
	The overall cost of running Hillsborough Castle in 2005-06 was £4,948,666.27. This includes an amount of £3.1 million for cost of capital.
	I have no official residence in Great Britain.

Rushmere House

Alasdair McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment he has made of the effect of the proposed developing of Rushmere House, Cadogan Park, on the preservation of the Malone Conservation Area.

David Cairns: The effect of the proposed extension to Rushmere House is assessed against a number of relevant planning policies including policy BH12 of Planning Policy Statement 6—Archaeology and the Built Heritage. BH12 provides the policy context for assessing whether new development is acceptable or not within a conservation area such as the Malone Conservation area. This assessment, which is well advanced, is being carried out with the assistance of a consultant conservation area architect.

Translink

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the total cost to the public purse was of the salary, pension, redundancy terms and other associated payments to the former chief executive of Translink during 2006.

David Cairns: This information will be published in the Northern Ireland Transport Holding Company's annual report for the year ending 31 March 2007. It is intended that this will be laid before Parliament prior to the summer recess.

CULTURE MEDIA AND SPORT

European Year of Equal Opportunities

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what activities her Department has organised to celebrate the European Year of Equal Opportunities.

David Lammy: The DCMS Equalities Scheme, which will be updated in April 2007, sets out the specific action the Department is taking on equality. We have not formulated any specific proposals to celebrate the European Year of Equal Opportunities, but will participate in relevant events in collaboration with other Government Departments and our sponsored NDPBs.

Food Advertising: Children's Television

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what representations she has received on the banning of cheese advertisements during children's television programmes; what discussions she has had with Ofcom on the basis of the ban; and if she will make a statement.

Shaun Woodward: None.

Ibsley Control Tower

Desmond Swayne: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport for what reasons the listing application for Ibsley Control Tower has been referred to the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Culture, Media and Sport, the hon. Member for Tottenham (Mr. Lammy), for decision; and if she will make a statement.

David Lammy: All listing recommendations are forwarded by English Heritage to the Department for a decision. While English Heritage receives applications, assesses buildings and makes recommendations, responsibility for decisions on whether or not to list a building remains, under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, with the Secretary of State.

Ibsley Control Tower

Desmond Swayne: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport when a decision will be made on the listing application for Ibsley Control Tower; and if she will make a statement.

David Lammy: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has received advice from English Heritage and will be making a decision shortly.

Television Licensing

Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many letters Television Licensing has issued in each of the last five years threatening legal proceedings; in how many of these cases prosecutions have followed; and how many prosecutions were successful in  (a) Orkney and Shetland,  (b) the Highlands and Islands,  (c) Scotland and  (d) the UK.

Shaun Woodward: The BBC has statutory responsibility for the administration of the television licensing system and TV Licensing carries out the day to day administration under the contract to the Corporation. I have therefore asked the BBC's Head of Revenue Management to consider the question raised by the hon. Gentleman about the number of letters issued by TV licensing which threaten legal proceedings and to write to him direct. Copies of the reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
	However, the free-standing figures for the number of people proceeded against and found guilty at all courts for offences relating to television licence evasion in the last five years are in the following tables.
	
		
			  Proceeded against 
			   2001  2002  2003  2004  2005 
			 Orkney and Shetland 4 0 0 2 4 
			 The Highlands and Islands 123 53 86 89 124 
			 Scotland 2,185 1,181 1,747 2,606 2,856 
			 England and Wales 96,470 110,158 93,896 115,623 139,194 
		
	
	
		
			  Found guilty 
			   2001  2002  2003  2004  2005 
			 Orkney and Shetland 4 0 0 2 4 
			 The Highlands and Islands 122 53 83 89 122 
			 Scotland 2,131 1,137 1,725 2,594 2,806 
			 England and Wales 83,738 96,587 79,855 97,752 119,341 
		
	
	The figures for Northern Ireland are not available.

Theatres

Neil Gerrard: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the level of revenue funding for theatre has been in each financial year since 1996-97 in England.

David Lammy: Government funding for the arts is distributed, within broad guidelines, through Arts Council England. The following figures provide a breakdown of the information requested.
	
		
			  Arts Council England grant in aid funding, theatre 
			   £000 
			 1996-97 47,899 
			 2001-02 58,612 
			 2002-03 71,669 
			 2003-04 85,501 
			 2004-05 90,692 
			 2005-06 94,937 
		
	
	Prior to the merger of the Arts Council of England and the Regional Arts Boards, funding for theatre was distributed nationally by the Arts Council, and regionally by the Arts Boards. Overall expenditure by art form was not collated. However, Arts Council England has retrospectively collated this data for 1996-97, 2001-02 and 2002-03.

Translation Services

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what documents her Department and its agencies translate for people in the UK who do not speak English; into which languages such documents are translated; and what the cost was of producing such translations in each of the last five years, broken down by language of translation.

David Lammy: Details and costs of documents published by DCMS in ethnic language versions since January 2002 are as follows. We do not have this information for DCMS's agencies and, in respect of those, the information requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	 November 2002
	Leaflet on the National Lottery
	Translated into Hindi and Punjabi
	3,000 copies of each printed.
	Total cost: £1,736
	Cost per language: £868
	 August 2005
	Leaflet on the Licensing Act 2003
	Translated into Turkish, Greek, Bengali, Punjabi, Gujerati, Urdu, Chinese, Arabic and Kurdish.
	Supplied as an electronic PDF to local authorities for customisation, printing and distribution to their local communities.
	Cost per language: £85
	Total cost: £765

MINISTER FOR WOMEN

Job Share Registers

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality what discussions the Government have had with employers on providing job share registers to employees.

Meg Munn: Alongside the exemplar employer initiative, which, for example, encourages employers to operate schemes to get more women into non-traditional occupations and management and leadership positions, we will shortly launch a quality part-time work initiative, supported by a £500,000 fund. These will help spread best practice, including job share registers.

Women Entrepreneurs

Henry Bellingham: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality what plans the Government have for encouraging women entrepreneurs.

Meg Munn: There are encouraging signs that more women are considering starting businesses and recent figures show that 34 per cent. of the newly self-employed are women, compared to 27 per cent. of those currently self-employed. A Task Force on Women's Enterprise has been established to further accelerate the rates of women's business ownership in the UK. The Task Force is co-ordinating activity across Government and the Regional Development Agencies to ensure more women can set up in business.

Flexible Working

Henry Bellingham: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality what plans the Government have to extend flexible working requests to parents of children up to the age of 18 years.

Meg Munn: In April 2003, we introduced the right to request flexible working to parents of children under six years (18 years for disabled children). From April 2007, we will extend it to carers of adults.
	We are continuing to consider the case for extending the right to request flexible working to parents of older children.

Boardroom Appointments

Vincent Cable: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality if she will make an assessment of the progress of women in securing boardroom appointments in the last five years.

Meg Munn: According to the Female FTSE report 2006 there are now 117 (10.3 per cent.) female-held directorships, compared to 75 (6.4 per cent.) in 2001. 77 companies in the FTSE have women on their boards compared to 57 in 2001. Currently, 33 FTSE 100 chairs are taking an active role in the progression of women to board level. Schemes such as the "FTSE 100 Cross Company Programme", a business-to-business solution, provides mentoring and support to encourage women's progression.

Gypsy and Traveller Communities

Philip Hollobone: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality what recent discussions she has had with the Home Office on policing Gypsy and Traveller communities.

Meg Munn: I have not had any recent discussions with the Home Office on policing Gypsy and Traveller communities. However, my officials participate in a Home Office working group to follow up the policing aspects of the "Common Ground" report published by the CRE in 2006, and of a Home Office publication, "Moving Forward: How the Gypsy and Traveller Communities can be more engaged to improve policing performance".

Human Trafficking

Peter Bone: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality what representations she has made to the Home Office on the Council of Europe's Convention on Human Trafficking in respect of women trafficked into the UK for the purposes of sexual exploitation.

Meg Munn: I sit on the Home Office-led Inter-Ministerial Group on Human Trafficking and fully support the multiple aims of the Convention. I have been active in discussions on this issue, in particular feeding in evidence from participating in European Union and Council of Europe discussions on this issue.

HOME DEPARTMENT

ASBOs

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many antisocial behaviour orders were issued to people  (a) aged under 19 and  (b) 19 years or over in each local authority in the eastern region in each of the last five years.

Tony McNulty: The available information is given in the following tables.
	
		
			  Number of antisocial behaviour orders issued at all courts, as reported to the Home Office by the Court Service, in the east region, by age group and local government authority area in which prohibitions are imposed, 2002 
			   2002  
			  Area  Age 10-18  Age 19+  Age not known  Total 
			 Bedfordshire 2 2 — 4 
			  of which: 
			 Bedford borough council 1 — — 1 
			 Luton borough council 1 — — 1 
			 Mid Bedfordshire district council — 2 — 2 
			  
			 Cambridgeshire 2 — — 2 
			  of which: 
			 Peterborough council 2 — — 2 
			  
			 Essex 
			  of which: 
			 Southend borough council 1 — — 1 
			 Thurrock council 1 — — 1 
			  
			 Hertfordshire 6 — — 6 
			  of which: 
			 Broxbourne borough council 1 — — 1 
			 St Albans district council 1 — — 1 
			 Three Rivers district council 2 — — 2 
			 Watford borough council 2 — — 2 
			  
			 Norfolk 5 3 1 9 
			  of which: 
			 Norwich city council 5 3 1 9 
			  
			 Suffolk 5 — — 5 
			  of which: 
			 Ipswich borough council 5 — — 5 
			 Total east region 22 5 1 28 
			  Note : Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. 
		
	
	
		
			  Number of antisocial behaviour orders issued at all courts, as reported to the Home Office by the Court Service, in the east region, by age group and local government authority area in which prohibitions are imposed, 2003 
			   2003  
			  Area  Age 10-18  Age 19+  Age not known  Total 
			 Bedfordshire 8 8 — 16 
			  of which: 
			 Bedford borough council — 5 — 5 
			 Luton borough council 7 2 — 9 
			 Mid Bedfordshire district council 1 — — 1 
			 South Bedfordshire district council — 1 — 1 
			  
			 Cambridgeshire 12 3 — 15 
			  of which: 
			 Cambridge city council 1 1 — 2 
			 Huntingdonshire district council 2 — — 2 
			 Peterborough council 9 2 — 11 
			  
			 Essex 9 7 — 16 
			  of which: 
			 Basildon district council 1 — — 1 
			 Castle Point borough council — 1 — 1 
			 Harlow district council 3 1 — 4 
			 Southend borough council 5 4 — 9 
			 Tendring district council — 1 — 1 
			  
			 Hertfordshire 13 4 — 17 
			  of which: 
			 Broxbourne borough council 3 1 — 4 
			 North Hertfordshire district council 4 2 — 6 
			 Three Rivers district council 1 — — 1 
			 Watford borough council 5 1 — 6 
			  
			 Norfolk 6 1 — 7 
			  of which: 
			 Great Yarmouth borough council 6 — — 6 
			 Norwich city council — 1 — 1 
			  
			 Suffolk 9 16 — 25 
			  of which: 
			 Babergh district council — 2 — 2 
			 Forest Heath district council 1 1 — 2 
			 Ipswich borough council 2 1 — 3 
			 St Edmundsbury borough council 1 1 — 2 
			 Suffolk coastal district council 1 3 — 4 
			 Waveney district council 4 8  12 
			  
			 Total east region 57 39 — 96 
			  Note: Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. 
		
	
	
		
			  Number of antisocial behaviour orders issued at all courts, as reported to the Home Office by the Court Service, in the east region, by age group and local government authority area in which prohibitions are imposed, 2004 
			   2004  
			  Area  Age 10-18  Age 19+  Age not known  Total 
			 Bedfordshire 5 10 — 15 
			  of which: 
			 Bedford borough council 1 1 — 2 
			 Luton borough council 1 5 — 6 
			 Mid Bedfordshire district council 1 — — 1 
			 North Bedfordshire district council 1 — — 1 
			 South Bedfordshire district council 1 4 — 5 
			  
			 Cambridgeshire 4 22  26 
			  of which: 
			 Cambridge city council 1 16 — 17 
			 Huntingdonshire district council 1 2 — 3 
			 Peterborough council 2 4 — 6 
			  
			 Essex 34 25 59  
			  of which: 
			 Basildon district council 6 1 — 7 
			 Brentwood borough council 1 — — 1 
			 Castle Point borough council 1 — — 1 
			 Chelmsford borough council 2 7 — 9 
			 Colchester borough council 6 7 — 13 
			 Epping Forest district council 4 2 — 6 
			 Harlow district council 3 1 — 4 
			 Maldon district council 3 — — 3 
			 Southend borough council 2 4 — 6 
			 Tendring district council 4 1 — 5 
			 Thurrock council 2 —  2 
			 Uttlesford district council — 2 — 2 
			  
			 Hertfordshire 22 21 1 44 
			  of which: 
			 Broxbourne borough council 1 3 1 5 
			 Dacorum borough council 4 1 — 5 
			 East Hertfordshire district council — 2 — 2 
			 Hertsmere borough council 1 — — 1 
			 North Hertfordshire district council 2 2 — 4 
			 St Albans district council 2 2 — 4 
			 Stevenage borough council 2 3 — 5 
			 Three Rivers district council 1 1 — 2 
			 Watford borough council 8 7 — 15 
			 Welwyn Hatfield district council 1 — — 1 
			  
			 Norfolk 16 27 1 44 
			  of which: 
			 Breckland district council 5 5 — 10 
			 Great Yarmouth borough council 9 3 — 12 
			 King's Lynn and West Norfolk borough council 2 8 — 10 
			 Norwich city council — 10 1 11 
			 South Norfolk district council — 1 — 1 
			  
			 Suffolk 32 45 — 77 
			  of which: 
			 Babergh district council 1 — — 1 
			 Forest Heath district council 2 1 — 3 
			 Ipswich borough council 13 15 — 28 
			 Mid Suffolk district council — 5 — 5 
			 St Edmundsbury borough council — 1 — 1 
			 Suffolk coastal district council 11 13 — 24 
			 Waveney district council 5 10 — 15 
			 Total east region 113 150 2 265 
			  Note: Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. 
		
	
	
		
			  Number of antisocial behaviour orders issued at all courts, as reported to the Home Office by the Court Service, in the east region, by age group and local government authority area in which prohibitions are imposed, 2005 
			   2005  
			  Area  Age 10-18  Age 19+  Age not known  Total 
			 Bedfordshire 10 22 — 32 
			  of which: 
			 Bedford borough council — 8 — 8 
			 Luton borough council 4 10 — 14 
			 Mid Bedfordshire district council 4 3 — 7 
			 South Bedfordshire district council 2 1 — 3 
			  
			 Cambridgeshire 22 26 2 50 
			  of which: 
			 Cambridge city council 6 5 2 13 
			 East Cambridgeshire district council 5 1 — 6 
			 Fenland district council 2 3 — 5 
			 Huntingdonshire district council 3 9 — 12 
			 Peterborough council 1 6 — 7 
			 South Cambridgeshire district council 5 2 — 7 
			  
			 Essex 35 34 69  
			  of which: 
			 Basildon district council 5 — — 5 
			 Braintree district council 2 3 — 5 
			 Brentwood borough council — 2 — 2 
			 Castle Point borough council 2 1 — 3 
			 Chelmsford borough council 2 5 — 7 
			 Colchester borough council 10 6 — 16 
			 Epping Forest district council — 2 — 2 
			 Harlow district council 1 — — 1 
			 Maldon district council 1 — — 1 
			 Rochford district council 2 1 — 3 
			 Southend borough council 5 6 — 11 
			 Tendring district council 2 5 — 7 
			 Thurrock council 3 3 — 6 
			  
			 Hertfordshire 30 44 6 80 
			  of which: 
			 Broxbourne borough council 3 7 1 11 
			 Dacorum borough council 3 4 — 7 
			 East Hertfordshire district council 6 8 — 14 
			 Hertsmere borough council 1 4 — 5 
			 North Hertfordshire district council 4 7 — 11 
			 St Albans district council 1 — — 1 
			 Stevenage borough council 8 6 — 14 
			 Watford borough council 2 6 3 11 
			 Welwyn Hatfield district council 2 2 2 6 
			  
			 Norfolk 14 32 — 46 
			  of which: 
			 Breckland district council — 9 — 9 
			 Great Yarmouth borough council 6 3 — 9 
			 King's Lynn and West Norfolk borough council 6 7 — 13 
			 North Norfolk district council — 3 — 3 
			 Norwich city council 2 10 — 12 
			  
			 Suffolk 22 30 — 52 
			  of which: 
			 Babergh district council — 1 — 1 
			 Forest Heath district council — 1 — 1 
			 Ipswich borough council 6 11 — 17 
			 Mid Suffolk district council 1 — — 1 
			 St Edmundsbury borough council 2 4 — 6 
			 Suffolk coastal district council 6 8 — 14 
			 Waveney district council 7 5 — 12 
			  
			 Total east region 133 188 8 329 
			  Note: Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.

ASBOs

Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many breaches of antisocial behaviour orders have given rise to action by the police in Lancashire.

Tony McNulty: Since 1 June 2000 the Court Proceedings Database within the Office for Criminal Justice Reform indicates that, by the end of 2005, 804 offences of having breached an ASBO had been proven in court within the Lancashire criminal justice area. Information about police action in connection with these breaches is not collected centrally.

Banks: Security

Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he is taking to make banks responsible for fraudulent transactions online.

Vernon Coaker: Rules which cover responsibility for meeting the cost of fraudulent online transactions are made by the card schemes and are matters for individual merchants and their banks. This is not something in which the Government would intervene.
	The Government take the problem of card fraud very seriously and work closely with the finance and retail sectors and the police. The Home Office is represented on an industry-led Steering Group which aims to tackle 'Card Not Present' (CNP) fraud (which includes online fraud). We support practical measures being introduced by the industry to increase levels of security for internet transactions. These include Address Verification Services (AVS) and the Card Security Code (CSC), along with Mastercard Secure Code and Verified by Visa, which require password verification for internet transactions.

Brothels

Ashok Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the effects of introducing licensed and regulated brothels in certain areas.

Gerry Sutcliffe: As part of our wide-ranging public consultation on prostitution ('Paying the Price', published in July 2004) we considered the option of introducing a scheme to license or regulate brothels. We assessed the impact of such schemes introduced in other jurisdictions and invited comments from those responding to the consultation.
	We received 861 responses to the consultation. Following analysis of the available evidence and the responses to the consultation we are unconvinced that such a scheme would bring about real improvements in terms of the safety of those involved, and of the wider community. Our assessment is set out in full in the 'Coordinated Prostitution Strategy and a summary of responses to Paying the Price' published in January 2006.
	However, significant concerns emerged about the particular vulnerability of those who work alone. The coordinated strategy on prostitution published in January 2006 included a proposal to amend the definition of a brothel to allow women to work in pairs, or with a maid. We intend to consult further on this proposal and an announcement will be made in due course.
	The strategy recognises that there are different models of prostitution and aims to challenge the existence of street-based sex markets, as well as all forms of commercial sexual exploitation. It includes specific measures aimed at reducing the numbers of people, particularly young people, drawn into prostitution, as well as improving the support available for those already involved to find routes out.

Dangerous Dogs Act

Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people in London were prosecuted under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 in each year from 1992 to 2006.

Tony McNulty: Data from the court proceedings database held by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform on the number of people prosecuted under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 in the Metropolitan and City of London Police Force Area, from 1992 to 2005, is shown in the following tables.
	Figures for 2006 will be available in the autumn.
	
		
			  Number of persons proceeded against at magistrates court for offences relating to the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991, in the Metropolitan and City of London police force area, 1992-2005( 1, 2) 
			  Statute  Offence description  1992  1993  1994  1995  1996  1997  1998 
			 Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 Sec 3(1) Owner or person in charge allowing dog to be dangerously out of control in a public place injuring any person. 65 94 68 53 29 35 46 
			  
			 Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 Sec 3(3) Owner or person in charge allowing dog to enter a non-public place and injure any person. 9 4 5 4 4 5 5 
			  
			 Dangerous Dogs Act 1989. Dogs Act 1871 Sec 2 Failure to comply with an order to keep a dog under proper control etc. Dangerous dog not kept under proper control. 65 36 18 23 24 24 17 
			  
			 Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 Sec 1(2)(a) Breeding or breeding from a fighting dog. 9 2 — 1 2 1 — 
			  
			 Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 Sec 1(2)(d) Allowing a fighting dog to be in a public place without a muzzle or a lead. 103 39 15 11 6 5 4 
			  
			 Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 Sec 1(2)(e) Abandoning, or allowing to stray, a fighting dog. 9 7 8 2 2 1 — 
			  
			 Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 Sec 1(3) Possession, without exemption, of a Pit Bull Terrier, Japanese Tosa or other designated fighting dog. 100 93 31 20 10 9 13 
			  
			 Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 Sec 3(1) Owner or person in charge allowing dog to be dangerously out of control in a public place, no injury being caused. 70 67 50 31 21 24 15 
			  
			 Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 Sec 3(3) Owner or person in charge allowing dog to enter a non- public place causing reasonable apprehension of injury to a person. 7 10 — 3 1 — — 
			 Total  437 352 195 148 99 104 100 
		
	
	
		
			  Statute  Offence description  1999  2000  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005 
			 Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 Sec 3(1) Owner or person in charge allowing dog to be dangerously out of control in a public place injuring any person. 45 53 58 59 63 64 58 
			  
			 Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 Sec 3(3) Owner or person in charge allowing dog to enter a non-public place and injure any person. 1 3 2 2 4 2 1 
			  
			 Dangerous Dogs Act 1989. Dogs Act 1871 Sec 2 Failure to comply with an order to keep a dog under proper control etc. Dangerous dog not kept under proper control. 12 11 14 14 4 8 4 
			  
			 Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 Sec 1(2)(a) Breeding or breeding from a fighting dog. — 1 1 6 — 1 — 
			  
			 Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 Sec 1(2)(d) Allowing a fighting dog to be in a public place without a muzzle or a lead. 1 2 4 2 1 1 — 
			  
			 Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 Sec 1(2)(e) Abandoning, or allowing to stray, a fighting dog. 2 — — — — — — 
			  
			 Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 Sec 1(3) Possession, without exemption, of a. Pit Bull Terrier, Japanese Tosa or other designated fighting dog. 9 3 2 1 1 1 1 
			  
			 Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 Sec 3(1) Owner or person in charge allowing dog to be dangerously out of control in a public place, no injury being caused. 19 28 29 16 19 13 19 
			  
			 Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 Sec 3(3) Owner or person in charge allowing dog to enter a non- public place causing reasonable apprehension of injury to a person. 2 2 1 — 3 — 1 
			 Total  91 103 111 100 95 90 84

Departmental Common Policy Programme

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether officials in his Department and Foreign and Commonwealth Office staff at posts abroad work to a common policy programme.

Joan Ryan: The FCO has nine strategic priorities, three of which are directly concerned with Home Office business: making the world safer from global terrorism; reducing the harm to the UK from international crime, including drug trafficking, people smuggling and money laundering; and managing migration and combating illegal immigration. In those countries of priority concern to the UK, officials from both Departments also work very closely in delivering UK justice and home affairs objectives. There are Home Office secondees in the British embassies in Washington DC and Madrid and a joint unit working on Afghan counter-narcotics. The Home Office has both intensive and extensive contact with the FCO on EU business and works closely on justice and home affairs issues within the G8 Lyon-Roma group.

DNA Samples

John Penrose: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what procedures should be followed when DNA samples are taken from people by the police in terms of advice on legal rights in respect of the use of such samples; and what assessment he has made of the implementation of such procedures.

Joan Ryan: Under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) 1984 as amended, the police may take, without consent, DNA (and fingerprints) from persons who have been arrested for, charged with, informed they will be reported for or convicted of a recordable offence.
	These may only be used for the purposes of prevention and detection of crime, the investigation of an offence, the conduct of a prosecution or, since April 2005, for the purposes of identifying a deceased person.
	Procedures on the taking of such samples and guidance to officers are given in PACE Codes of Practice, Code D. These state that the person should be informed of the reason for taking the sample, if appropriate the grounds on which the relevant authority to take the sample has been given, and that information derived from the sample may be subject to a speculative search on the National DNA Database.

Drivers' Vision

Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what powers police officers have to check motorists are driving with vision of the required standard; and what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of such powers.

Vernon Coaker: It is an offence under section 96 (1) of the Road Traffic Act 1988 (RTA) for a person to drive a motor vehicle on a road while his eyesight, corrected by glasses or contact lenses if necessary, is such that he cannot comply with the requirement prescribed by the Act. Under section 96(2) RTA a constable with reason to suspect that a driver is committing this offence may require the driver to undergo an eye test. Exercise of this power is an operational matter for the police. I am not aware of any reason to consider these provisions insufficient.

EU Foreign Ministers Meeting

Paul Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions he has had with the Gwent police authority on the costs of providing security for the meeting of European Union Foreign Ministers in Newport.

Tony McNulty: Gwent police made a request for special grant assistance for policing this event. We agreed to provide £2,670,000 for policing this event.

Identity Fraud

Nigel Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people in  (a) Eastbourne constituency and  (b) England and Wales reported being victims of identity fraud in each of the last five years.

Joan Ryan: This information is not available centrally because there is no single offence of identity fraud.
	However, the 240 members of CIFAS, the UK's Fraud Prevention Service for the private sector (mainly financial services companies), recorded 32,737 victims of identity fraud in 2002, 43,094 in 2003, 50,455 in 2004, 56,200 in 2005 and 51,025 for the first three quarters of 2006 (CIFAS estimate that this will rise to 68,000 for the entire year).
	In addition, identity theft and identity fraud questions were incorporated into the British Crime Survey in 2005 and the results should give us more information on the number of victims.

Interpreters

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much was spent by each police force on interpreters in the last year for which figures are available.

Tony McNulty: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer I gave on 8 January 2007,  Official Report, column 150W.

Leave to Remain

James Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the answer of 9 January 2007,  Official Report, column 538W, on leave to remain, what the other countries are from which nationals have been granted indefinite leave to remain (ILR) under the ILR exercise of 30 September 2006.

Liam Byrne: The following table based on management information shows the number of persons granted indefinite leave to remain under the terms of the family indefinite leave to remain exercise, by nationality, where five or more, as at 30 September 2006. This is the latest data for which information has been published.
	Further information on the Family ILR exercise is published in quarterly web pages and in the annual statistical bulletin, Asylum Statistics United Kingdom. Copies of these publications and others relating to general immigration to the UK are available from the Library of the House and from the Home Office Research Development and Statistics Directorate website at:
	http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html
	
		
			  Grants of ILR issued under the IND Family ILR exercise as at 30 September 2006( 1,2) , by nationality 
			  Nationality  Total 
			 (1) Provisional figures rounded to the nearest 5.(2 )Main asylum applicant only. 
			 Serbia and Montenegro 3,905 
			 Sri Lanka 1,945 
			 Turkey 1,735 
			 Pakistan 1,220 
			 Nigeria 1,125 
			 Democratic Republic of Congo 935 
			 Colombia 715 
			 Afghanistan 700 
			 Kenya 685 
			 Ecuador 665 
			 Ghana 595 
			 Somalia 590 
			 Poland 580 
			 China 545 
			 Iran 465 
			 Sierra Leone 405 
			 India 380 
			 Lithuania 380 
			 Uganda 365 
			 Croatia 350 
			 Albania 345 
			 Angola 340 
			 Iraq 290 
			 Algeria 265 
			 Czech Republic 255 
			 Ukraine 245 
			 Bangladesh 230 
			 Rwanda 225 
			 Ivory Coast (Cote D'Ivoire) 210 
			 Tanzania 205 
			 Romania 186 
			 Congo 170 
			 Eritrea 166 
			 Burundi 160 
			 Turkish Republic of northern Cyprus (TRNC) 155 
			 Zimbabwe 155 
			 Palestine 155 
			 Russia 145 
			 Cameroon 135 
			 Jamaica 135 
			 Ethiopia 125 
			 Latvia 110 
			 Gambia 105 
			 Lebanon 100 
			 Sudan 100 
			 Estonia 95 
			 Slovakia 85 
			 .Iberia 70 
			 Yemen 65 
			 Bulgaria 65 
			 Nepal 45 
			 Vietnam 45 
			 Armenia 45 
			 Libya (Arab Republic) 40 
			 Israel 40 
			 South Africa 40 
			 Togo 40 
			 Cyprus (excluding Turkish Republic of northern Cyprus) 40 
			 Georgia 40 
			 Syria 35 
			 Bosnia-Herzegovina 35 
			 Azerbaijan 30 
			 Belarus 30 
			 Moldova 30 
			 Mongolia 30 
			 Bolivia 25 
			 Brazil 25 
			 Egypt 20 
			 Zambia 20 
			 Peru 20 
			 Mauritius 15 
			 Philippines 15 
			 Macedonia (former Yugoslav Republic of) 15 
			 Morocco 15 
			 Guinea 10 
			 Guinea-Bissau 10 
			 Tunisia 10 
			 Venezuela 10 
			 Jordan 10 
			 Kuwait 10 
			 Malawi 10 
			 Kazakhstan 10 
			 Chad 10 
			 Chile 10 
			 Guyana 10 
			 Indonesia 10 
			 Myanmar (Burma) 10 
			 Seychelles 10 
			 Niger 5 
			 Burkina Faso 5 
			 Kyrgyzstan 5 
			 Malaysia 5 
			 Trinidad And Tobago 5 
			 Uzbekistan 5 
			 Cuba 5 
			 Mall 5 
			 Saudi Arabia 5 
			 Benin 5 
			 Gabon 5 
			 Korea (South) 5 
			 St. Lucia 5 
			 Thailand 5 
			 Other Nationalities 20 
			 Total 24,340

Local Government

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what targets his Department sets for local authorities.

Tony McNulty: The only target the Home Office sets directly for local authorities is an efficiency target which it sets for the police service. The main way in which the Home Office delivers national public service agreements is through setting targets for local partnerships such as crime and drugs partnerships and youth offending teams.
	Targets which local authorities are expected to deliver on are contained in local area agreements (LAAs). The following Home Office mandatory outcomes are included in all LAAs: reduce crime; reassure the public, reducing the fear of crime; reduce the harm caused by illegal drugs; and build respect in communities and reduce antisocial behaviour. There is also a sub-set of best value performance indicators relating to community safety. Four of these are directly related to crime levels which local authorities report on, in consultation with the police.

Police

Nicholas Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his written statement of 27 November 2006,  Official Report, column 82WS, on local policing, what representations were made by  (a) individual chief police officers,  (b) the Association of Chief Police Officers,  (c) individual police authorities and  (d) the Association of Police Authorities on the number of police community support officers needed for the neighbourhood policing project; and if he will place such representations in the Library.

Tony McNulty: PCSOs and the appropriate level of resourcing to deliver and sustain neighbourhood policing in 2007-08 and beyond have been discussed generally in almost all official and ministerial meetings and discussions on policing (both informal and formal) in recent months and leading up to my written statement of 27 November 2006, Official Report, columns 82-86WS. The Association of Police Authorities and the Association of Chief Police Authorities have represented the police service as a whole in these discussions, although individual chiefs and chairs have also raised these issues.

Police

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 14 December 2006,  Official Report, column 1324W, on the police, which police forces in England and Wales have collected the data referred to, other than the Metropolitan Police Service; and if he will make a statement.

Tony McNulty: holding answer 8 January 2007
	All police forces, other than the Cambridgeshire constabulary, provided activity-based costing data to the Home Office, covering the 2004-05 financial year. This data was reported under a number of headings including robberies, violence against the person and burglary in a dwelling. Non-incident linked paperwork and checking paperwork (supervisory) are not costed specifically within the activity-based costing returns submitted to the Home Office.

Police

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  how many police officers there are in  (a) England,  (b) Staffordshire,  (c) Stoke on Trent and  (d) Trent Valley division;
	(2)  how many police officers there are in  (a) England,  (b) Staffordshire,  (c) Stoke on Trent,  (d) Trent Valley and  (e) Tamworth per 100,000 head of population.

Tony McNulty: Police officer strength and the number of police officers per 100,000 head of population, by police force area, are given in Home Office Statistical Bulletin, Police Service Strength England and Wales 31 March 2006, available for download from:
	http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs06/hosb1306.pdf
	Police officer strength and the number of police officers per 100,000 head of population, by basic command unit, are given in the additional tables of the above mentioned publication, available for download from:
	http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs06/hosb1306add_tab.xls
	Police strength data for the town of Tamworth are not available. The available local data for Staffordshire Basic Command Units are given in the following table.
	
		
			  Police officer strength (FTE)( 1)  and officers per 100,000 population by country, force and BCU as at 31 March 2006 
			  Police force  Basic command unit  Police officers  Police officers per 100,000 population 
			 All England forces  133,925 269 
			 
			 Staffordshire  2,302 219 
			  Chase 420 131 
			  North Staffordshire 298 137 
			  Stoke on Trent 578 243 
			  Trent Valley 412 150 
			  Central Services 594 (2)n/a 
			 (1 )Full-time equivalents that have been rounded to the nearest whole number. Due to rounding there may be an apparent discrepancy between totals and the sums of constituent items. Figures include those officers on career breaks or maternity/paternity leave. (2 )Central Services are an administrative boundary, not a geographic one, and therefore do not have a resident population.

Police

Gordon Banks: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether any restrictions apply to applications to join the police from those with coeliac disease.

Tony McNulty: holding answer 15 January 2007
	There are no general restrictions on applicants to the police service with coeliac disease.
	Home Office Circular 59/2004 sets out the medical guidelines for police recruitment and further guidance was issued by the Home Office in August 2004 to Force Medical Advisors. Forces look at each case individually and assess it on its merits.

Police

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers were employed in Essex in each of the last 10 years.

Tony McNulty: The available data are given in the table.
	Police strength data are published annually in the Home Office Statistical Bulletin "Police Service Strength, England and Wales". The latest publication (data as at 31 March 2006) can be downloaded from:
	http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs06/hosb1306.pdf
	
		
			  Police officer strength (FTE)( 1)  in Essex as at 31 March 1996 to 31 March 2006( 2) 
			 1996 2,884 
			 1997 2,961 
			 1998 2,928 
			 1999 2,891 
			 2000 2,806 
			 2001 2,897 
			 2002 2,946 
			 2003 2,989 
			 2004 3,098 
			 2005 3,190 
			 2006 3,279 
			 (1) Full-time equivalent. All officers less staff on career breaks or maternity/paternity leave (comparable with previously published figures). (2) This table contains full-time equivalent figures that have been rounded to the nearest whole number. Because of rounding, there may be an apparent discrepancy between totals and the sums of the constituent items.

Police

Nick Herbert: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which police forces in England and Wales have changed police injury pension payments so that payments are linked to national average earnings rather than police wages once injured officers reach compulsory retirement age  (a) to all officers including those already receiving injury pensions who have reached compulsory retirement age,  (b) to those receiving an injury pension but yet to reach compulsory retirement age and  (c) only to those who were injured after the changes came into effect.

Tony McNulty: The information requested is not held centrally. The decision on whether to review a police injury pension is for the police authority paying it. The size of an injury award is determined in the first instance by reference to the recipient's final pensionable salary and length of service as a police officer and his or her loss of earning capacity as a result of the injury. Where a police authority is reviewing the size of an injury pension the key question is whether the former officer's loss of earning capacity as a result of the injury has altered. When a former officer reaches what would have been his or her compulsory retirement age in the police service, Home Office guidance advises police authorities, in the absence of any cogent evidence to the contrary in a particular case, to assess the loss of earning capacity by reference not to police pay but to national average earnings.

Police

George Galloway: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many black and minority ethnic Metropolitan Police officers applied for positions with the rank of Commander in the last two years; how many have been appointed to those positions; and if he will make a statement.

Tony McNulty: holding answer 16 January 2007
	Statistics regarding applications for promotion are for the force concerned and are therefore a matter for the Metropolitan Police Service in this case.

Prison Service

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many crimes were carried out by people who had absconded from prison in each of the last five years.

Tony McNulty: This information is not collected as part of the recorded crime series. Data held centrally are for numbers of crimes only and do not include details of the victim or suspect.

Proscribed Terrorist Organisations

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the UK-based organisations which are listed as proscribed terrorist organisations under international agreements to which the UK is a party.

Tony McNulty: Both the EU and the UN maintain lists of terrorist organisations. Member states are obliged to apply financial sanctions (such as asset freezes) on the organisations on these lists.
	The EU list can be accessed at the following website:
	http://ec.europa.eu/comm/external_relations/cfsp/sanctions/list/consol-list.htm
	The New Consolidated List of Individuals and Entities Belonging to or Associated with the Taliban and the Al-Quaida Organisation, as established and maintained by the United Nations 1267 committee, can be accessed at the following website:
	http://www.un.org/Docs/sc/committees/1267/1267ListEng.htm

Railways

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many reported offences related to  (a) pedal cycles and  (b) motor vehicles have occurred at railway stations in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

Tony McNulty: The information requested is not collected centrally. The Home Office does collect data on offences recorded by the British Transport Police but offences occurring specifically at railway stations cannot be separately identified.

Repeat Bail Offenders

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people arrested over 2005-06 were on repeat bail.

Tony McNulty: Information on arrests held centrally covers persons arrested for recorded crime (notifiable offences), by age group, gender, ethnicity and main offence group within the 43 police force areas in England and Wales. Information is therefore not available centrally to the detail required. This information is held locally however and is one of the factors that can be considered by the courts when deciding whether or not to grant bail in a particular case. Other factors include the nature and seriousness of the alleged offence, and the defendant's character, associations and community ties.

Road Safety

Philip Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the cause is of the delay in publishing the report into the road death pilot projects which ended in March 2005; and when he expects it to be published.

Vernon Coaker: holding answer 16 January 2007
	Research Findings on the evaluation of support services for road traffic victims are due to be published in spring 2007. The report will be based on an examination of three Home Office funded pilot schemes—Bedfordshire, Bradford and Calderdale and Merseyside.
	The publication date reflects the work that has been involved in finalising the research report from the evaluation, and in quality-assuring its contents.

Road Traffic Infringements

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what targets he has set police forces in their tackling of road traffic infringements.

Vernon Coaker: The Roads Policing Strategy Statement agreed between ACPO, the Home Office and the Department for Transport sets five roads policing objectives: to deny criminals the use of the roads by enforcing the law, to reduce road casualties, to tackle the threat of terrorism, to reduce anti-social use of the roads and to enhance public confidence and reassurance by patrolling the roads. The update to the National Community Safety Plan issued in November last year set implementation of the Strategy as a key action for the police in 2007-08. How the Strategy is implemented is a matter for individual chief officers.

Speeding

Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were convicted of speeding offences in  (a) England,  (b) Lancashire and  (c) the Ribble Valley in each of the last five years.

Tony McNulty: Available information on the number of convictions for offences of speeding taken from the Court Proceedings Database held by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform, from 2000 to 2004 (latest available) is in the table.
	2005 data will be available later this year.
	Data are not available at either local authority or constituency level.
	
		
			  Total findings of guilt at all courts: England and within Lancashire police force area for speeding offences( 1) , 2000 to 2004 
			   Number of offences 
			   England  Lancashire police force area 
			 2000 130,876 5,268 
			 2001 127,647 4,468 
			 2002 115,875 3,895 
			 2003 128,517 6,862 
			 2004 130,803 5,078 
			 (1 )Offence under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 ss. 16, 81, 84, 86, 88 7 89; Motor Vehicles (Speed Limits on Motorways) Regs. 1973; Parks Regulation (Amendment) Act 1926—byelaws made thereunder.  Notes: 1. It is known that for some police force areas, the reporting of court proceedings, in particular those relating to summary motoring offences, may be less than complete. Work is underway to ensure that the magistrates courts case management system currently being implemented by the Department for Constitutional Affairs reports all motoring offences to the Office for Criminal Justice Reform. This will enable more complete figures to be disseminated.  2. Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when these data are used.

Trafficked Women: Housing

Gordon Banks: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many places there are in emergency housing for women in custody of the authorities who have been trafficked to the UK to work in the sex trade.

Vernon Coaker: The Government have funded the Poppy project until 2008 to provide 25 crisis and 10 resettlement places for women who have been trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation. In addition, the independently funded Chaste Round Table Network can provide 14 bed spaces.

Woodhill Prison

Phyllis Starkey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners serving custodial sentences of longer than six months at HMP Woodhill were included in the population numbers supplied to the Department of Health for the calculation of NHS funding to the Milton Keynes primary care trust for 2006-07 and 2007-08; and what the equivalent number was in April 2006.

Gerry Sutcliffe: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given by the Minister of State, Department of Health, my right hon. Friend the Member for Doncaster, Central (Ms Winterton), on 15 January 2007,  Official Report, column 921W.

Written Questions

Peter Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  when he will reply to question 114383, on the adequacy of written parliamentary answers, tabled by the hon. Member for Mid-Worcestershire on 8 January 2007 for answer on 11 January 2007; and what the reason was for the time taken to provide an answer;
	(2)  when he will reply to the letters from the hon. Member for Mid-Worcestershire of 6 September and 19 October 2006, on the subject of inadequate responses by his Department to written parliamentary questions.

Tony McNulty: holding answer 11 January 2007
	I wrote to the hon. Gentleman on 17 January.

EDUCATION AND SKILLS

Apprenticeships: Waterways

Peter Soulsby: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether apprenticeships are available in  (a) canal boat building and  (b) canal and inland waterways maintenance.

Phil Hope: Lantra is the sector skills council which leads on environmental conservation skills, including inland waterways maintenance. Boat building skills issues are addressed by the Science and Engineering Sector Skills Council (SEMTA). SEMTA works closely with the British Marine Federation (BMF) which designs apprenticeships in the marine industry covering boat building, maintenance and repair. The BMF is working with employers in the sector, for example through the Midlands Marine Alliance, to establish a specific canal boat building apprenticeship route. This is expected to become available during 2007.

Apprenticeships: Waterways

Peter Soulsby: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps his Department has taken to boost skills in industries and vocations associated with canals and inland waterways in each of the last five years.

Phil Hope: The Government have established the Skills for Business Network comprising the Sector Skills Development Agency and 25 Sector Skills Councils. Sector Skills Councils take a strategic view of skills needs in their sector to plan how those needs will be met. Boat building is covered by the Science and Engineering Sector Skills Council (SEMTA) while Lantra is the SSC which leads on environmental conservation skills, including inland waterways maintenance. SEMTA became fully established in 2003 and Lantra in 2004.
	Working with partners such as colleges, employers and funding bodies, SEMTA has developed a Sector Skills Agreement for the marine industry sector and is implementing measures addressing management and leadership skills, productivity and competitiveness, technical work force development and manpower planning. As part of its Sector Skills Agreement, Lantra has also been working with employers and partners in the environmental conservation industry to develop an action plan to raise skill levels and maximise investment in work force development. British Waterways is one of the organisations that has expressed its commitment to delivering the plan's objectives.

Children in Care

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children were registered under local authority care in England at the end of each  (a) November and  (b) January since 1997; and if he will make a statement.

Parmjit Dhanda: Information on the number of all looked-after children who were looked after at 31 January, at 1 November and 31 March since 1997, is shown in table l.
	
		
			  Table 1: Children who were looked after at 31 January, 30 November and at 31 March( 1) 
			  England 
			  All children( 1)  1997( 3)  1998( 2)  1999( 2)  2000( 2)  2001( 2)  2002( 2)  2003( 2)  2004( 3)  2005( 3)  2006( 3) 
			 Children who were looked after at 31 March 51,400 53,300 55,400 58,100 58,900 59,600 60,800 61,200 60,900 60,300 
			 Children who were looked after at 31 January 51,500 52,700 55,000 57,500 58,200 59,700 60,200 61,100 61,200 60,700 
			 Children who were looked after at 30 November(4) 52,400 54,500 57,700 58,200 59,600 59,800 60,400 61,200 61,300 — 
			 (1) Figures exclude children looked after under an agreed series of short term placements (2) Figures are derived from the SSDA903 system from 1996/97 and between 2003/04 and 2005/06 collected information on all looked-after children. (3) Figures are derived from the SSDA903 system which between 1997/98 and 2002/03 collected information from a one third sample survey of all looked-after children and aggregate to the total of the CLA 100 as at 31 March (4) Figures for November 2006 will not be available until October/November 2007

Departmental Energy Policy

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether he plans to make his Department carbon neutral.

Parmjit Dhanda: DfES is committed to the achievement of the new targets contained in the framework for sustainable development on the Government estate launched in June 2006. DfES is working toward both reducing its carbon emissions and becoming carbon neutral.

Education: North-east England

Stephen Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many people from  (a) Jarrow constituency and  (b) south Tyneside have attended university in each year since 1997; and which English parliamentary constituency has had the highest (i) number and (ii) proportion of people attending university in each year since 1997.

Bill Rammell: The latest available information is shown in the table.
	
		
			  Undergraduate entrants to all UK higher education institutions from Jarrow parliamentary constituency and South Tyneside local authority 
			   Undergraduate entrants from: 
			  Academic year  Jarrow constituency  South Tyneside local authority 
			 1997-98 555 980 
			 1998-99 605 1,065 
			 1999-2000 580 1,010 
			 2000-01 570 985 
			 2001-02 605 1,050 
			 2002-03 725 1,270 
			 2003-04 715 1,235 
			 2004-05 740 1,375 
			 2005-06 775 1,375 
			  Notes: Figures have been rounded to the nearest five and are on a DfES snapshot basis as at 1 December.  Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). 
		
	
	In each of these years the English parliamentary constituency which had the highest number of undergraduate entrants to higher education institutions was Bristol West.
	The latest available figures on participation in higher education by constituency were published by the Higher Education Funding Council for England in January 2005 in "Young Participation in England", which is available from its website at:
	http://www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/hefce/2005/05_03/
	This report shows participation rates for young people who enter higher education aged 18 or 19, disaggregated by constituency, for the years 1997-98 to 2000/01. HEFCE has not produced participation rates beyond 2000-01.
	The English parliamentary constituency which had the highest proportion of young people entering higher education in each of the years 1997-98 to 2000-01 was Kensington and Chelsea. For example in 2000-01 the participation rate for Kensington and Chelsea was 79 per cent. compared to 30 per cent. for England as a whole.
	The Department uses the higher education initial participation rate (HEIPR) to assess progress on increasing first-time participation of English students aged 18 to 30 in higher education towards 50 percent: the latest provisional figure for 2004-05 is 42 per cent. The HEIPR is not calculated at parliamentary constituency level.

Healthy Diet

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps he is taking with ministerial colleagues in the Department of Health to educate pupils about the importance of a healthy diet and to enable them to maintain a healthy diet in schools.

Parmjit Dhanda: holding answer 17 January 2007
	Pupils learn about the importance of a healthy diet through the National Curriculum subjects of science and food technology, and through Personal, Social and Health Education.
	In addition, by 2013, through an entitlement to cook, all children will have the opportunity to acquire the practical skills to prepare simple nutritious dishes from basic ingredients by the end of Key Stage 4.
	The new nutritional standards for school food will ensure that pupils can maintain a healthy diet in school.

Managing Information Across Partners Programme

Martin Linton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what progress has been made on the procurement exercise conducted by the Learning and Skills Council for the Managing Information Across Partners programme.

Bill Rammell: A preferred bidder has been selected to design, build and operate a Learner Registration Service, Learner Data Sharing Interface and Register of Learning Providers. This has followed a formal Government procurement process, initiated by a European Journal Notice issued in May 2006, and conducted under the competitive dialogue route. Three organisations were taken through to the bid stage. We are currently in the final stages of fine tuning and we expect to award the contract formally on Friday 19 January 2007 to LogicaCMG.

Special Needs

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many special needs schools have been  (a) opened and  (b) closed in London in each of the last 10 years, broken down by borough; and if he will make a statement.

Parmjit Dhanda: There has been one school that caters for special needs opened in 1998 in Waltham Forrest with no other openings or closures, for schools with this provision, in London in the last 10 years. However, the numbers of special schools opened and closed in London, by borough over the last 10 years are given as follows:
	
		
			  Special schools opened in the last 10 years in London 
			   Open date  
			  Local authority  1997  1998  1999  2001  2002  2003  Grand total 
			 Barking and Dagenham 1 — — — — — 1 
			 Barnet — — — — — — 0 
			 Bexley 1 — — — — — 1 
			 Bromley — — 1 — — — 1 
			 Camden — — — — — — 0 
			 Ealing — — — — — — 0 
			 Greenwich — — — 3 — — 3 
			 Hackney — — — — — — 0 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham — — — — — — 0 
			 Haringey — — — — — — 0 
			 Harrow — — — 2 — — 2 
			 Islington — — — — 1 — 1 
			 Lambeth — — — 2 — — 2 
			 Lewisham — — — — — — 0 
			 Merton — — — — — — 0 
			 Newham — — — — — — 0 
			 Redbridge — — — — — 1 1 
			 Richmond upon Thames — — — — — — 0 
			 Tower Hamlets 1 — — — — — 1 
			 Waltham Forest — — — — — — 0 
			 Wandsworth — 1 — — — — 1 
			 Grand total 3 1 1 7 1 1 14 
		
	
	
		
			  Special schools closed in the last 10 years in London 
			   Close date  
			  Local authority  1997  1998  1999  2000  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006  Grand total 
			 Barking and Dagenham 3 — — — — — — — — — 3 
			 Barnet — — — 1 — — — — — — 1 
			 Bexley — — — — — — — — — — 0 
			 Bromley — — — — — — — — — — 0 
			 Camden — — — — 1 — — — — — 1 
			 Ealing — — — — — 1 — — — — 1 
			 Greenwich — — — — 5 1 — — — 1 7 
			 Hackney 1 — — — — — — — — 1 2 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham — — — — — 1 — — — — 1 
			 Haringey — — — — — — 1 — — — 1 
			 Harrow — 1 — — 1 — — — — — 2 
			 Islington — 1 — — — 2 — — — — 3 
			 Lambeth 1 — — — 5 1 — — 1 — 8 
			 Lewisham — — — — — — — 1 — — 1 
			 Merton — 1 — — — — — — — — 1 
			 Newham — — — — 1 — — — — — 1 
			 Redbridge — — — — — — — — 2 — 2 
			 Richmond upon Thames — — — — — 1 — — — — 1 
			 Tower Hamlets 1 — 1 — — 1 — — — — 3 
			 Waltham Forest — 1 — — 1 — — — — 1 3 
			 Wandsworth — 1 1 — — — — — — — 2 
			 Grand total 6 5 2 1 14 8 1 1 3 3 44 
			  Note: The figures include schools that closed as a result of the amalgamation or merger of two or more schools and schools that have closed in local authorities that have moved from a three-tier to a two-tier system.  Source: EduBase

Student Finance: HE Sector

David Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what research he has  (a) commissioned and  (b) evaluated on the effects of the new funding arrangements for higher education, with particular reference to students' personal finances.

Bill Rammell: The Department is commissioning a new Student Income and Expenditure Survey which will take place during the 2007/08 academic year. The study will provide an authoritative and objective report on the finances of HE students in England and Wales—their income, expenditure, levels of debt and experience of financial hardship. The last survey was carried out in 2004/05 and was designed to set a baseline against which changes following the 2004 Higher Education Act could be monitored.
	On 8 January 2004, the Secretary of State announced that the Department would establish an independent review, working with the Office for Fair Access, which would report to the House of Commons on all aspects of the new student support arrangements based on the first three years of operation of the policy. The Department has worked with HEFCE, OFFA and other outside bodies to develop a programme of work that will generate the evidence needed to meet the draft remit of the review.
	Existing sources of data, information and analysis have been identified for each area, and work has begun to commission new studies where existing sources are felt to be insufficient.
	—continued
	In terms of student numbers, although in 2006 there was a small decrease (4.5 per cent.) in university entrants accepted through the Universities and Colleges Admissions Scheme (UCAS), this came on the back of a larger than usual increase (8.9 per cent.) in those entering in 2005. Compared to 2004, numbers for 2006 entry were up by 12,000 or 4.3 per cent. It is as we expected, and is what happened when tuition fees were first introduced in 1998. Then, there was a small reduction, after which applications continued upwards. The underlying trend is still up and the proportion of applicants from lower socio-economic groups has not fallen.

Teenage Pregnancy Unit

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills 
	(1)  who is responsible for maintaining the Teenage Pregnancy Unit website; and how often it is updated;
	(2)  what research projects are being undertaken by the Teenage Pregnancy Unit;
	(3)  what the terms of reference are for the Teenage Pregnancy Unit;
	(4)  whose responsibility commissioning research from the Teenage Pregnancy Unit is;
	(5)  how many civil servants work at the Teenage Pregnancy Unit; and how many worked at the unit in each year since its establishment.

Beverley Hughes: The Teenage Pregnancy Unit (TPU) is currently staffed by six civil servants. Shortly after the launch of the strategy in 2000, TPU employed 16 civil servants. TPU does not have published terms of reference, but its role is to oversee implementation of the strategy and to develop it in the light of evidence of what is working to reduce conception rates.
	The TPU website is managed internally, with one member of staff taking lead responsibility for its maintenance. It is updated on an ongoing basis. However, during 2007, the information on the website will be migrated on to the Department's "Every Child Matters" website as part of a wider exercise to rationalise the number of websites that the Department is responsible for maintaining and to make it easier for stakeholders to access information from a single source.
	TPU does not carry out research itself. But it did commission a national evaluation of the first four years of the strategy and a number of individual research projects (through a competitive tender exercise), to fill gaps in the existing evidence base. There were a total of nine research projects commissioned—the findings of which have all been published on the TPU website—brigaded under the following five themes.
	The impact of growing up in rural and seaside resorts on the sexual behaviour and life-chances of young people.
	Long term consequences of teenage births for mothers, fathers and their children.
	Attitudes and behaviour of black and minority ethnic young people relating to sexual activity, contraceptive use and teenage pregnancy.
	Black and minority ethnic young people's experience of teenage parenthood.
	Educational experiences of pregnant young women and young mothers of school age.

University Fees

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many, and what percentage of, students have their university fees paid in  (a) full and  (b) part by their local education authority, broken down by London borough; and if he will make a statement.

Bill Rammell: The available data are given in the following table:
	
		
			  Number and percentage of students who had their tuition fees paid in full or in part—London borough local authority areas 
			  Academic year 2005/06 
			  London borough local authority  Number of students in receipt of full fee support( 1)  Percentage of students in receipt of full fee support( 2)  Number of students in receipt of partial fee support( 1)  Percentage of students in receipt of partial fee support( 2) 
			 Barking and Dagenham 1,210 64 260 14 
			 Barnet 3,000 42 700 10 
			 Bexley 1,170 39 410 14 
			 Brent 3,270 54 780 13 
			 Bromley 1,610 31 520 10 
			 Camden 2,010 62 280 9 
			 Croydon 2,650 43 730 12 
			 Ealing 3,200 51 750 12 
			 Enfield 2,500 46 660 12 
			 Greenwich 1,900 57 370 11 
			 Hackney 2,860 77 290 8 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 1,400 62 170 8 
			 Haringey 2,670 60 430 10 
			 Harrow 2,250 38 770 13 
			 Havering 1,030 36 390 14 
			 Hillingdon 1,600 41 450 11 
			 Hounslow 1,660 44 410 11 
			 Islington 1,980 64 300 10 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 1,050 57 120 7 
			 Kingston upon Thames 1,000 34 330 11 
			 Lambeth 2,940 65 500 11 
			 Lewisham 2,550 61 520 12 
			 Merton 1,320 43 350 11 
			 Newham 4,220 76 520 9 
			 Redbridge 2,460 45 660 12 
			 Richmond upon Thames 1,070 31 300 9 
			 Southwark 3,260 72 370 8 
			 Sutton 920 32 350 12 
			 Tower Hamlets 2,930 83 200 6 
			 Waltham Forest 2,600 63 500 12 
			 Wandsworth 2,060 53 430 11 
			 Westminster 1,390 62 200 9 
			 Total London(3) 67,710 52 13,990 11 
			 England(4) 321,540 43 98,930 13 
			 (1) Figures are for students domiciled in local authorities in the London boroughs, rounded to the nearest 10 students. (2) The percentage is the number of students in receipt of fee support expressed as a percentage of the total number of students who applied to the Student Loans Company for any student support and is rounded to the nearest whole number. (3) Totals do not add due to rounding. (4) A figure for all English local authorities has been included in the table for comparison purposes.  Source: Student Loans Company 
		
	
	In 2005/06, students on full-time undergraduate courses and their families were expected to make a contribution towards the cost of their tuition based on household income. Students from lower income backgrounds were wholly or partially exempt from paying tuition fees.
	In 2006/07, no student needs to find money up front to meet tuition fees as they are eligible for a tuition fee loan of up to £3,000.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Employers' Liability

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will take steps to ensure that the Association of British Insurers maintain records of all companies liable for employers' liability.

Anne McGuire: Since 1 November 1999, the Association of British Insurers and the Lloyd's Market Association have been operating a code of practice for tracing Employers' Liability Compulsory Insurance (ELCI) policies that currently exist.
	The 2006 pre-Budget report set out a simplification plan outlining the steps that DWP is taking to achieve our target of reducing the administrative burdens we place on business. This will result in an ELCI consultation exercise later this year and the maintenance of ELCI records will form part of this.

Pensions Ombudsman

Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average length of time taken by the Office of the Pensions Ombudsman to carry out an investigation from receipt of the request to conclusion was in the last period for which figures are available; and what steps are being taken to reduce this period.

James Purnell: The information is not available in the form requested. At 31 December 2006 the age distribution of cases on hand was as follows:
	
		
			  Age distribution of Pensions Ombudsman cases on hand at 31 December 2006 
			  Age  Number of cases  Percentage of total 
			 Less than 1 year old 476 38 
			 Between 1 and 2 years old 298 24 
			 Between 2 and 3 years old 143 12 
			 Between 3 and 4 years old 48 4 
			 Between 4 and 5 years old 252 20 
			 Over 5 years old 28 2 
			 Total 1,245 100 
		
	
	A number of measures have been taken to reduce the time taken to close cases. These include the recruitment of a Deputy Pensions Ombudsman, a fundamental revision of business processes, modernisation of the office's accommodation and IT infrastructure, and recruitment of additional investigative staff.
	These measures will assist the Pensions Ombudsman in achieving his target of reducing the proportion of cases on hand more than 12 months old to no more than 5 per cent. by 31 March 2008.

DUCHY OF LANCASTER

Departmental Secondment

John Hayes: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster from which private companies employees have been seconded to the Prime Minister's Office in the last 12 months.

Hilary Armstrong: For these purposes, the Prime Minister's Office forms part of the Cabinet Office. The information provided in the following list is for the whole of the Cabinet Office.
	 Private Sector Company: December 2005-06
	PA Consulting
	Price Waterhouse Coopers
	Accenture
	CAP Gemini
	Boston Consultancy Group
	Frontier Economics
	Demos
	Timebank
	KPMG

Deputy Prime Minister's Office

Oliver Heald: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster whether a capability review will be produced for the Department of the Deputy Prime Minister's Office.

Hilary Armstrong: We have no plans to conduct a capability review of the Deputy Prime Minister's Office.

V

Mark Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how much from public funds has been allocated to the v charity, broken down by  (a) management and administration costs,  (b) funding for volunteering grants and  (c) other costs.

Edward Miliband: The Government announced in Budget 2005 that up to £100 million of public funds would be available for funding the Russell Commission framework over the period of 2006 to 2009. The Cabinet Office has budgeted £50 million to implement the 16 Russell Commission recommendations, the majority of which of which will go to v. A small amount is being retained by the Cabinet Office to support the implementation of recommendations which the Government are responsible for. The Treasury will match-fund money v raises from the private sector on a pound-for-pound basis up to a maximum of £50 million.
	v has received the following grants up to 5 January 2006:
	 (a) a strategic grant of £1.4 million for management and admin costs;
	 (b) a volunteering grant of £5.2 million, which makes up part of the volunteering opportunities grant; and
	 (c) a project grant of £2.8 million for 'other' (sector infrastructure and awareness) to promote volunteering opportunities.

CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS

Armed Forces Personnel

Alex Salmond: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what the most recent timescale since the changes announced by her Department is for inquests of members of the armed forces who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Harriet Harman: The timing of individual inquests is a matter for the coroner. I issued a written ministerial statement on 18 December with details of progress with the inquests and I intend to issue a further written ministerial statement in March which will provide more information.

Litigants in Person

John Hemming: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs pursuant to the answer of 13 December 2006,  Official Report, column 1074W, on litigants in person, if she will assess the merits of increasing the rate at which litigants in person can claim costs.

Vera Baird: The award of costs is a matter for the judge in the light of the circumstances of a particular case. Under the current rules of court, litigants in person can be awarded costs for the work done in connection with the case of £9.25 per hour. If, however he can prove a higher financial loss for that work he can claim that higher figure subject to an absolute cap on the amount recoverable of two thirds of the amount that would have been allowed if the litigant were legally represented. He can also claim his disbursements. The flexibility of the current system ensures that litigants are fairly compensated for the work carried out. The Government have no plans to review the current rates.

Public Sector Information

Derek Wyatt: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what steps she plans to take to ensure that the aims of the Public Sector Information Regulations relating to maximising the reuse of public sector information and stimulation of the economy are achieved.

Harriet Harman: In recent years the Government, through the Office of Public Sector Information, has introduced a number of initiatives to encourage the re-use of public sector information. This includes the development of the on-line PSI Click-Use licence. Currently, there are over 11,000 Click-Use licence holders worldwide using a range of Government and other public sector information. The plan is to extend the scope of Click-Use licensing to a wider range of public sector information.
	The Office of Public Sector Information also introduced the Information Fair Trader Scheme (IFTS). This is a process that monitors standards of information re-use and trading. IFTS was originally developed to monitor the activities of Government trading funds but IFTS has now been extended to other public sector bodies. This includes an on-line self assessment version of IFTS. This will help improve standards across the public sector in the field of re-use.
	In addition, OPSI will continue to spread best practice and increase awareness through seminars, visits and guidance.

Public Sector Information

Derek Wyatt: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what action is taken against public sector information holders who breach the Information Fair Trader Scheme guidelines.

Harriet Harman: If a public sector information holder (PSIH) that is accredited under the Information Fair Trader Scheme (IFTS) does not comply with IFTS guidelines, the Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) will notify the public sector information holder and identify those areas which need to be remedied. In doing so, OPSI will provide support and guidance to assist the PSIH to comply. This would involve regular meetings and reviews. A key aspect of the process is the development of an action plan which sets out the areas of non-compliance and target dates for meeting the necessary standards. If the PSIH does not resolve the problem, OPSI may consider the withdrawal of the PSIH's delegation of authority, in full or in part, until the issues are resolved. Potential withdrawal of a delegation of authority would only apply in those cases where the PSIH is a Crown body that operates under a delegation of authority from the controller of HMSO.

Public Sector Information

Derek Wyatt: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs if she will take steps to ensure public sector information holders offer the same terms and conditions to external licensees as those applied to their own products and services.

Harriet Harman: The Re-Use of Public Sector Information Regulations (S.I. 2005 No. 1515) specifically state that any public sector information holder wishing to re-use information that it produces outside its public task should be subject to the same conditions as any other re-user. The Office of Public Sector Information monitors this aspect under the Information Fair Trader Scheme and also if any formal complaints are made under the regulations.

Public Sector Information

Derek Wyatt: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what steps have been taken in response to the Office of Public Sector Information's proposal that public sector information holders should be set timetables and goal times within which to respond to requests.

Harriet Harman: The timescale for responding to requests to re-use public sector information is defined in the Regulations on the Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2005 (S. I. 2005 No 1515). The standard response time is 20 working days although there is provision for extending this in the case of requests that raise complex issues.

Public Sector Information

Derek Wyatt: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs if she will review the Office of Public Sector Information's powers and remit.

Harriet Harman: The Office of Fair Trading published a market sector study on the commercial use of public sector report in December 2006. One of OFT's recommendations is to increase OPSI's regulatory powers and resources. The Government are due to submit their official response to the OFT report in March 2007.

Public Sector Information

Derek Wyatt: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs if she will make more stringent the requirements on public sector information holders regarding the reasons which may be given for  (a) refusing a licence and  (b) changing licence terms.

Harriet Harman: The Regulations on the Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations (S.I. 2005 No. 1515) allow public sector information holders to refuse a request for re-use. In doing so it is consistent with the European directive on the re-use of public sector information which the UK Regulations implement. The directive is consistent with the provisions of all international agreements on the protection of intellectual property rights and one of the effects of this is that public sector rights holders have the same right to refuse to allow the re-use of their copyright material as any other copyright holder. This is subject, however, to such decisions being made on a non-discriminatory basis.
	Under the Information Fair Trader Scheme (IFTS) the Office of Public Sector Information reviews the reasons for refusing to allow re-use as part of the IFTS verification process to ensure consistency and fairness of application.

COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Buncefield Oil Disaster

Charles Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment her Department has made of the impact of the Buncefield oil disaster on local property values; and if she will make a statement.

Angela Smith: The effects of the Buncefield incident on house prices were reviewed by GO-East in July 2006. Local estate agents reported that there had been little or no decrease in house sales and value. Research carried out by Lambert Smith Hampton has found that there continues to be a strong demand for commercial properties in the area and does not expect the market to be affected in the future.

Buncefield Oil Disaster

Charles Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what measures have been taken since the Buncefield disaster to ensure that local fire services are properly equipped to deal with the potential health and safety threats posed by the control of major accident hazard sites located within the area of their service coverage; and if she will make a statement.

Angela Smith: Measures taken to deal with the potential threats posed by control of major accident hazard sites (COMAH) form part of the local authority emergency planning arrangements. The information requested is not collected centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Coastal Towns

Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what action her Department  (a) has undertaken and  (b) is planning to undertake to improve the (i) economic competitiveness and (ii) quality of life for residents of coastal towns.

Phil Woolas: The Department recognises that coastal towns have a distinctive role to play in sub-regional and regional economies. It supports efforts by the regional development agencies to ensure that coastal areas in their regions are helped to achieve their full economic potential, as part of wider strategies to deliver sustainable growth.
	The Department's memorandum to the Select Committee inquiry on coastal towns in March 2006 sets out the significant Government funding and support, much of it through Communities and Local Government programmes, which are focused on the areas of greatest need, including some coastal towns. They include the new deal for communities, neighbourhood renewal fund, and local enterprise growth initiative.
	(http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200506/cmselect/cmodpm/1023/1023we72.htm)
	On 16 May 2006, the Department held a summit for coastal towns and cities to discuss their vision for the future and how central Government could help them deliver their priorities. Key issues to emerge focused on transport and connectivity, skills/employment and affordable housing.
	This summit, along with other city summits held around the country have helped inform proposals in the Local Government White Paper "Strong and Prosperous Communities", launched in November 2006. This offers a stronger role for local partnerships, giving local authorities more scope to lead their communities and to better address local needs and opportunities reflecting what is important locally which can vary significantly between places, including coastal towns.
	Local authorities are already under a duty to prepare a Sustainable Community Strategy which sets the strategic vision for an area. We are building on the successful pilots of local area agreements—the delivery plan for the strategy—which will now be available to all local authorities. We want to encourage multi-area agreements—where there is interest locally—which will extend this approach to those strategic issues which are best tackled across local authority boundaries. We will continue to work closely with these local authorities—whether in coastal towns or elsewhere—to help promote their further economic and social development.
	In the White Paper, we announced our intention to promote the concept of City Development Companies for English cities and city-regions, in particular their role in attracting private investment and driving economic development and regeneration. We are currently running a consultation on this, which should be of interest to all towns and cities.
	Together with the DTI and Treasury we will be considering further through the Treasury review of sub-national economic development how Government can best devolve more powers and resources to regions, towns and cities, including those in coastal areas.

Consultants

Mark Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which external consultants were used by  (a) her Department and  (b) each of its agencies in relation to private finance initiatives in 2005-06; and what the nature and cost of the work was in each case.

Angela Smith: Details of external consultants used by the Department for Communities and Local Government in relation to private finance initiatives in 2005-06 including the nature and cost of work is shown in the following table. With regard to the Department's agencies, there was no use of external consultants in connection with private finance initiatives in 2005-06.
	
		
			  Consultancy  Nature of work  Costs of work (£) 
			 Partnerships UK Development of financial appraisal model for use with housing PFI projects 25,000 
			 Robson Rhodes Audit of the housing PFI financial model 5,000 
			 Partnerships UK Support for DCLG in respect of the financial collapse of Jarvis in relation to the Tyne and Wear fire and rescue PFI project 10,000 
			 PA Consulting Evaluation of housing PFI programme 51,628

Council Tax

Eric Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the estimated cost is of exempting members of the armed services serving abroad on active duty and not living in departmental accommodation from having a council tax liability in England.

Phil Woolas: The estimated cost of providing support for the council tax costs of service personnel on operations overseas will depend on the qualifying criteria used, the way in which that support is given and the level of relief provided. The administrative costs of running the scheme would also be dependent on how it was structured.

Council Tax

Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent discussions her Department has had with the Ministry of Defence on the proposed exemption of members of the armed forces serving overseas from paying council tax.

Phil Woolas: Discussions between my Department and the Ministry of Defence about how best to provide support for the council tax costs of service personnel on operations overseas are ongoing.

County Council Chief Executives

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what guidelines she has set for chief executives of county councils with respect to whether they can participate in lobbying the electorate in a referendum on unitary status and whether they are allowed to debate publicly with politicians on this subject.

Phil Woolas: Within the statutory framework, including the requirements under the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 restricting certain officers' party political activities, the conduct of chief executives is a matter for them and their councils.

Departmental Annual Report

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will list the amber and red annual review reports to which she refers on page 55 of her Department's annual report for 2006.

Phil Woolas: Across 88 areas receiving neighbourhood renewal fund (NRF) in 2004-05, the following 16 local strategic partnerships (LSPs) were assessed as 'amber/red' for their performance in that year:
	Allerdale
	Ashfield
	Barking and Dagenham
	Birmingham
	Burnley
	Ealing
	Hackney
	Kingston-upon-Hull
	Lambeth
	Leicester
	Lincoln
	Luton
	Nottingham
	Plymouth
	Sandwell
	Sedgefield
	Of these, nine improved sufficiently to be assessed as "amber/green" for their performance in 2005-06.
	No LSPs receiving NRF were assessed as "red" for their performance in either 2004-05 or 2005-06.

Departmental Annual Report

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the purpose of the regional policy budget referred to on Table B9 of her Department's annual report 2006, page 108 is; and how much of such funding was spent on administration.

Phil Woolas: The regional policy line within table B9 of the 2006 annual report from the Department for Communities and Local Government comprises the sum of a number of expenditure programmes. It does not include any departmental administration costs.
	The largest component of the total for 2004-05 (£1,179 million of £1,799.5 million) was the former Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's contribution to the work of the English regional development agencies, which was paid via the Department for Trade and Industry.
	Other significant items were expenditure by English Partnerships (the Urban Regeneration Agency and the Commission for New Towns) and grant payments, other than to local authorities, under the European regional development fund. English Partnerships and each regional development agency have published their own accounts for 2004-05 which set out how they spent their money, including how much was spent on administration. Copies of these accounts are in the Library of the House and are usually posted on the relevant organisation's websites.

Departmental Grants

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what projects were funded under her departmental budget line "Development of English Regions"; and what proportion of such funding was spent on administration.

Phil Woolas: Table B1 of the 2006 Annual Report from the Department for Communities and Local Government sets out the Department's resource and capital spending.
	The budget line "Development of English Regions" under each of these principally records ODPM's contribution to the work of (i) the English regional development agencies (in 2004-05 £758.1 million capital, £420.7 million resource); (ii) the London development agency (in 2004-05 £170 million capital, £106.9 million resource); and (iii) the voluntary regional assemblies (in 2004-05 £14.1 million resource).
	The specific activities and expenditure to which these amounts relate are detailed in the accounts of the bodies concerned. They contributed to the Department's Public Service Agreement 2 target to
	"make sustainable improvements in the economic performance of all English regions by 2008 and over the long term reduce the persistent gap in growth rates between the regions, demonstrating progress by 2006".

Energy Efficiency

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will take steps to include within building regulations a requirement that all new public buildings should be designed to include measures for energy-saving and energy-producing; and if she will make a statement.

Angela Smith: holding answer 11 January 2007
	Such requirements are already in place. The energy efficiency provisions in the building regulations apply whenever new buildings, including new public buildings, are constructed. Without prescribing solutions, the regulations set standards for energy performance in a way that enables builders to take into account the benefits of renewable and on-site energy generating systems, thus encouraging their take-up.

Engagements

George Galloway: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government on what dates Ministers in her Department and its predecessors made official visits to the London boroughs of  (a) Tower Hamlets,  (b) Newham and  (c) Waltham Forest in each year since 1997.

Angela Smith: The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Funding: Tamworth

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the ratio between central Government funding and council tax revenue for Tamworth borough council was in each of the last eight years.

Phil Woolas: The ratio between central Government grant and council tax revenue for Tamworth borough council in each of the last eight years is in the following table.
	
		
			   Ratio between central Government grant and council tax revenue for Tamworth borough council 
			 1999-2000 2.6 
			 2000-01 2.5 
			 2001-02 2.4 
			 2002-03 2.3 
			 2003-04 2.6 
			 2004-05 2.2 
			 2005-06 2.4 
			 2006-07 2.4 
			  Source: Communities and Local Government Revenue Outturn (RO) returns from 1999-00 to 2005-06 and Revenue Account (RA) budget returns for 2006-07. 
		
	
	Government grant is defined here as the sum of specific grants inside aggregate external finance (i.e. revenue grants paid for councils' core services) and formula grant (revenue support grant, redistributed business rates and police grant).
	Council tax revenue is defined here as the local authority council tax requirement (i.e. the council tax used to finance revenue expenditure), not council tax collected.
	Comparisons across years may not be valid due to changing local authority responsibilities. The information provided excludes capital funding and funding for local authorities' housing management responsibilities. The information also excludes those grant programmes, such as European funding, where authorities are simply one of the recipients of funding paid towards an area.

House Price Tax

Graham Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether she has estimated the average house price tax payment which would apply per property for people living in Altrincham and Sale West, if the scheme being piloted in Northern Ireland were introduced in England.

Phil Woolas: No.

Local Governance Reform

Eric Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government who will conduct the independent review of the incentives and barriers to serving on councils.

Phil Woolas: Paragraph 3.9 of the Local Government White Paper announced the Government's intention that there should be an independent review. A further announcement on who will conduct it will be made in due course.

Local Governance Reform

Eric Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether the remit of the independent review into the incentives and barriers to serving on councils will include reviewing the salaries paid to councillors.

Phil Woolas: Paragraph 3.9 of the Local Government White Paper said that the review of the incentives and barriers to serving on councils will look at a range of issues including allowances and remuneration. A further announcement on terms of reference will be made in due course.

Local Governance Reform

Eric Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether indirectly elected local authority leaders will be able to be removed from full council by a motion of no confidence under her Department's proposals for reform of local governance.

Phil Woolas: Our proposals provide that a council may remove an indirectly elected leader from that office if its constitution allows this.

Local Governance Reform

Eric Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government to what parliamentary procedure she expects the orders by which the Secretary of State may introduce local government restructuring to be subject.

Phil Woolas: The Local Government and Involvement in Public Health Bill provides that orders creating new unitary authorities will be subject to the affirmative resolution procedure.

Local Government Finance

Andrew Pelling: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what population figure is used to calculate the local government settlement grant for the London borough of Croydon.

Phil Woolas: The Office for National Statistics' 2003-based sub-national population projections are used as the key source of population in the final 2006-07 and provisional 2007-08 local government finance settlements.
	For the 2007-08 settlement, the projected populations for 2007 used for Croydon are shown in the following table.
	
		
			  Age group  Projected population for 2007 for Croydon 
			 All ages (total) 342,716 
			 0-17 79,343 
			 13-19 30,340 
			 18-64 220,246 
			 65 and over 43,127 
			  Source: Office for National Statistics 
		
	
	In addition, the mid-2004 estimates of population data are the source of population data in other indicators used in the top-up elements of the relative needs formula.
	Detailed definitions of the data used and the data indicators are available on the local government finance website, at the following address:
	www.local.communities.gov.uk/finance/0708/grant.htm

Local Government Finance

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much Tamworth borough council received from central Government in cash terms in each of the last six years.

Phil Woolas: The central Government grant received by Tamworth borough council expressed in cash terms in each of the past six years is shown in the following table.
	
		
			   Cash terms (£000) 
			 2000-01 4,738 
			 2001-02 4,973 
			 2002-03 5,135 
			 2003-04 6,137 
			 2004-05 5,623 
			 2005-06 6,523 
			  Source: Communities and Local Government Revenue Outturn (RO) returns 
		
	
	Government grant is defined here as the sum of specific grants inside aggregate external finance (i.e. revenue grants paid for councils' core services) and formula grant (revenue support grant, redistributed business rates and police grant).
	Comparisons across years may not be valid due to changing local authority responsibilities. The information provided excludes capital funding and funding for local authorities' housing management responsibilities. The information also excludes those grant programmes, such as European funding, where authorities are simply one of the recipients of funding paid towards an area.

Local Government Finance

Karen Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will rank each English local authority by the proportion of total expenditure raised by council tax in the last 12 months.

Phil Woolas: The information ranked by the percentage of budgeted revenue expenditure to be met by council tax in 2006-07 has been made available in a table which has been placed in the Library of the House.

Local Government Finance

Karen Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the percentage change in central Government funding provided to each local authority in England was in each year since 1997.

Phil Woolas: Information on percentage changes in central Government funding provided to each local authority in England since 1998-99 has been made available in a table which has been placed in the Library of the House. Percentage changes for 1997-98 over the previous year have not been included due to complexities arising from the extensive local government reorganisation which took place around that time.
	Comparisons across years may not be valid due to changing local authority responsibilities or methods of funding.
	The information provided excludes capital funding and funding for local authorities' housing management responsibilities. The information also excludes those grant programmes, such as European funding, where authorities are simply one of the recipients of funding paid towards an area.

Local Government Funding: Cumbria

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what percentage increase in local government settlement  (a) above and  (b) below inflation was awarded to each local authority in Cumbria for 2007-08.

Phil Woolas: The following table shows the provisional percentage increase in formula grant, which comprises redistributed business rates and revenue support grant, for all authorities in Cumbria on a like-for-like basis i.e. after adjusting for changes in funding and function.
	
		
			  Local authority  Adjusted 2007-08 formula 2006-07 grant (£ million)  2007-08 formula grant (£ million)  Change (£ million)  Percentage change 
			 Allerdale 9.530 10.372 0.842 8.8 
			 Barrow-in-Furness 8.252 8.673 0.421 5.1 
			 Carlisle 9.596 10.111 0.515 5.4 
			 Copeland 6.718 7.029 0.311 4.6 
			 Eden 4.172 4.426 0.255 6.1 
			 South Lakeland 6.548 6.725 0.177 2.7 
			 Cumbria 105.446 111.186 5.740 5.4 
		
	
	The latest GDP deflator, the only measure of inflation that is forecast in advance, for 2007-08 is 2.7 per cent. We are proposing that every local authority that provides education and social services, as well as every shire district, would receive at least a 2.7 per cent. increase in formula grant on a like-for-like basis for 2007-08.
	Final figures will be available in due course, following a debate in the House.

Ordnance Survey

Derek Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what percentage of Ordnance Survey's turnover in the year ending 31 March 2005, excluding the National Interest Mapping Services Agreement, came from licensing its products and services to local and central Government agencies and other public bodies.

Angela Smith: For the year ended 31 March 2005, 47 per cent. of Ordnance Survey's turnover, excluding the National Interest Mapping Services Agreement came from the direct licensing of products and services to local and central government agencies and other public bodies.

Ordnance Survey

Derek Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much Ordnance Survey has spent on legal fees in the last two years.

Angela Smith: The most recent years for which complete information is available are those ending 31 March 2005 and 31 March 2006. In those years expenditure on external legal fees was £506,000 and £556,000 respectively.

Ordnance Survey

Derek Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many lawyers have been employed as permanent staff by Ordnance Survey in the past 12 months.

Angela Smith: During the 12 months ended 31 December 2006, Ordnance Survey had no more than seven lawyers. These staff represented 6.2 full-time equivalents.

Ordnance Survey

Derek Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much Ordnance Survey has spent on  (a) creating and  (b) maintaining addressing products in the last two years.

Angela Smith: The most recent years for which complete information is available are those ending 31 March 2005 and 31 March 2006. In those years expenditure directly attributable to the creation of addressing products was £0.6 million and £3.1 million respectively. Expenditure directly attributable to maintenance of addressing products in the same years was £300,000 per annum.

Parliamentary Questions

Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when she will answer question 109786 on departmental energy use, tabled by the hon. Member for Wealden on 12 December 2006.

Angela Smith: The hon. Member for Wealden's question was answered on 8 January 2007,  Official Report, column 377W.

Places Database

Eric Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the  (a) purpose,  (b) function and  (c) budget of the new Places database is.

Phil Woolas: 'Places' has been developed as the central warehouse for all place-related data held by Communities and Local Government. It is available on the department's intranet and its purpose is to enable staff to easily access a comprehensive range of information across regions, local authorities, wards and more local areas.
	The Places database performs a number of functions including:
	acting as a key statistical analysis and management information tool in support of the departmental policy and decision making processes;
	contributing to more efficient management of departmental data and IT resources; and,
	providing a local area database capable of adapting to the changing needs of the department without the need for significant redevelopment.
	The Places database cost £675,000 (excl. VAT) to develop and has part-year maintenance costs for 2006-07 of up to £168,000 (excl. VAT). It will achieve efficiency gains through consolidating several existing separately maintained databases and through staff spending less time on collating data from a wide variety of sources.

Planning

Stephen Byers: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will place a restriction on the number of times a planning application can be made to develop the same site.

Yvette Cooper: There are no plans to place a restriction on the number of times a planning application can be made to develop the same site. However, local planning authorities have the power to decline to determine a repeat application where it is the same or similar to an application that has been turned down previously and where they believe it is being submitted to wear down opposition to a development proposal. The power can be exercised where a previous application has been called in and refused by the Secretary of State or has been dismissed on appeal and, since 24 August 2005, where there has been no call in or appeal subject to there having been at least two similar applications refused in the past two years.

Poultry Register

Lynda Waltho: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what discussions she has had with ministerial colleagues in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on the passing of information on the Poultry Register to the Valuation Office Agency for the purposes of identifying and assessing game bird producers who are not registered for business rates.

Phil Woolas: None. Decisions on the disclosure of information from Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to the Valuation Office Agency are not a matter for the Department Communities and Local Government Ministers.

Second Homes and Holiday Lets

David Heath: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many homes in Somerset were classed as  (a) second homes and  (b) holiday lets in each year since 1997.

Yvette Cooper: The number of properties designated as second homes in Somerset for 2002 to 2006 are shown in the following table. Data prior to this are not considered sufficiently robust.
	
		
			   Number 
			 2002 2,770 
			 2003 2,792 
			 2004 3,007 
			 2005 2,973 
			 2006 2,925 
		
	
	The data are from a snapshot taken each year and are as recorded on CTB forms submitted by each local authority for council tax purposes.
	The information regarding holiday lets is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Translation Services

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government for what services provided by her Department and its related agencies translation services are provided.

Angela Smith: The Department has a framework contract to supply translations to support the services it provides and these are commissioned by individual business units within the Department as required. Information on the services for which translations are made is not held centrally, and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Unitary Authorities

Paddy Tipping: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent representations she has received about creating a new unitary authority in Nottinghamshire together with an extended unitary authority for the City of Nottingham; whether she intends the powers set out in the Local Government and Public Involvement in the Health Bill to allow this; and if she will make a statement.

Phil Woolas: holding answer 17 January 2007
	We have received two written representations about this issue and the powers set out in the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill provide for such a possibility. The current Invitation to Councils however specifies that all proposals must be based on existing boundaries.

Valuation Office Agency

Eric Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether the data provided to the Valuation Office Agency by Rightmove.co.uk includes the provision of photographs of properties.

Phil Woolas: Rightmove.co.uk plc does not provide data to the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) but makes information accessible to VOA staff through a web link. This information includes photographs of properties, but such photographs are only for viewing and are not copied by the VOA.

Valuation Office Agency

Eric Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what different property attributes are provided by local authorities to the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) to assist VOA listing officers in maintaining council tax lists.

Phil Woolas: Local authorities are required by the Local Government Finance Act 1992 to provide information that will assist listing officers of the Valuation Office Agency in carrying out their functions in relation to council tax. This information will usually include information about attributes of domestic property. The extent of information provided will differ from local authority to local authority.

Valuation Office Agency

Eric Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what different types of property attributes the Valuation Office Agency is supplied with under its property data deal with Rightmove.

Phil Woolas: No property attributes are being supplied. The contract with Rightmove gives the Valuation Office Agency access by a web link to an archive of estate agent particulars that were made available to the public on Rightmove.co.uk's main website when a property was being marketed.

Valuation Office Agency

Eric Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether the Valuation Office Agency's automated valuation model uses computer mass assisted appraisal techniques or technology.

Phil Woolas: Yes.

Valuation Office Agency

Eric Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 11 December 2006,  Official Report, column 906W, on the Valuation Office Agency, what the total spend with CLT was in each year since CLT signed the contract with Capgemini; and what the forecast expenditure is for 2007-08.

Phil Woolas: No contract was signed with Capgemini. The contract—between EDS and CLT—was transferred to Capgemini when they took over as IT provider to the Valuation Office Agency in July 2004. The total spend (ex. VAT) each year with CLT, since the contract began in November 2003, is:
	
		
			   £ 
			 2003-04 624,546 
			 2004-05 1,265,754.60 
			 2005-06 1,334,182.61 
		
	
	The response to which this is pursuant incorrectly gave the date from which expenditure began to be incurred as July 2004 (the date that Capgemini took over the contract). The correct date is November 2003.
	Forecast outturn for 2006-07 and expenditure for 2007-08 is subject to ongoing discussion and cannot be revealed without prejudicing the commercial position of the parties.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Bermuda

Andrew MacKinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if she will take steps to eliminate discrimination in recruitment, training, promotion and other practices in the Royal Bermuda Regiment; and if she will make a statement.

Geoff Hoon: The Bermuda Regiment is established under the Bermuda Defence Act and is therefore governed by local Bermuda legislation. Any amendment would have to be at the request of the Government of Bermuda.
	Recruitment, training and promotion in the Bermuda Regiment are managed fairly, according to the law and regulations in force in Bermuda.

Bermuda

Andrew MacKinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many women in the Royal Bermuda Regiment have  (a) received training in the UK,  (b) been seconded to UK military units outside of Bermuda and  (c) been deployed overseas (i) in each of the last five years and (ii) since the report was submitted in November 2005 by Colonel Baxter of the British defence staff into fitness for role inspection of the Royal Bermuda Regiment.

Geoff Hoon: Officials from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office have contacted the Bermuda Regiment and received the following information: one female soldier has been to the UK for training; one female soldier has been seconded to a UK military unit; and one female volunteer was deployed to the Cayman Islands in 2004 but no others have been deployed since November 2005.

Burma

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps she is taking to build support for a new UN Security Council resolution on Burma among EU member states.

Ian McCartney: We are working with the United States and members of the Security Council to build support for a UN Security Council resolution on Burma. All five European member states currently on the UN Security Council have indicated their support for a resolution. However the resolution was not adopted, as two permanent members of the Security Council—China and Russia—voted against, as did South Africa.

Consular Arrangements

Nicholas Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions she has had with the Home Office on improving links between consular casework staff and UK law enforcement officials.

Kim Howells: We have a good working relationship with the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), a non-departmental body of the Home Office. We seek to maintain this by ensuring that our consular training courses include a session on notifying SOCA of serious crimes of which we are aware committed by British nationals overseas, and a consular official speaks on relevant SOCA training courses. My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary wrote to Cabinet colleagues on 16 January proposing a review of the way the Government share information on criminality. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office will play a full role in that review.

East Asia: Proliferation Security Initiative

William Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs which nations in East Asia are contributing to the operations of the proliferation security initiative; and if she will make a statement.

Margaret Beckett: Japan and Mongolia both participate in the proliferation security initiative and have endorsed its statement of interdiction principles.

EU Committees

Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many committees work for the EU institutions, broken down by  (a) expert groups advising the European Commission on policy formation,  (b) Council working groups,  (c) comitology committees,  (d) committees working for the European Court of Justice,  (e) standing committees in the European Parliament and  (f) other committees.

Geoff Hoon: Expert groups are set up by the Commission, mainly on an informal basis, to provide it with independent advice. Membership is entirely for the Commission to decide but is generally drawn from academia, industry, trade unions and consumer groups. The composition, size and frequency of meetings of the groups vary enormously. The Commission's database lists 1,237 such groups. Their responsibilities cover policy development, implementation and monitoring and evaluation phases. The Commission does not specify how many of the groups are dedicated to policy formation only.
	Approximately 250 working parties and committees. These prepare for meetings of the council including all aspects of EU policy and legislation.
	There are 250 comitology committees.
	There are no committees working for the European Court of Justice.
	20 permanent committees and 6 temporary committees in the European Parliament.
	We are not aware of any centrally held figures for committees outside of the categories listed.

Extremist Political Groups

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs 
	(1)  how the Government are helping new EU member states to tackle far-right political extremism;
	(2)  if she will make a statement on the impact of extremist parties in  (a) the European Parliament and  (b) the new EU member states.

Geoff Hoon: The Government oppose extremism in all its forms. It remains to be seen what effect this group will have on European parliamentary decision-making given that it contains only 20 out of a total of 785 Members of the European Parliament.
	The EU is founded on the principles set out in Article 6 of the Treaty on EU. These include respect for fundamental rights as guaranteed by the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. The UK is continuing to support political and economic development in the new member states including through participation in the Commission- funded twinning programme which includes supporting the development of state institutions.

Foreign Decorations

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many Ministers have been awarded a foreign decoration since May 1997, broken down by country.

Margaret Beckett: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister to the hon. Member for Lewes (Norman Baker) on 10 July 2003,  Official Report, columns 931-32W, and to the answer my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister gave to the hon. Member for Mid-Worcestershire (Peter Luff) at Prime Minister's Questions on 6 December 2006,  Official Report, column 303.

Hambali: Riduan Isamuddin

Tobias Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations she has made to the United States on returning Hambali (Riduan Isamuddin) from Guantanamo Bay to Indonesia to stand trial for the Bali bombing.

Kim Howells: The Government think that suspected terrorists should be brought to trial whenever possible. The US Government are fully aware of this policy.
	British Government officials have conveyed to the US authorities concerns that Hambali has not yet been brought to justice. In his speech of 6 September 2006, President Bush announced the transfer of 14 so-called high-value detainees to Guantanamo Bay, including Hambali. He also said that the International Committee of the Red Cross would be granted access to them, and that they should face justice.

India and Burma

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations  (a) the UK Government and  (b) the European Union have made to the Government of India concerning the sale of military equipment and provision of military training to the Burma army.

Ian McCartney: Our high commission in New Delhi has raised our concerns regarding the provision of military equipment and training to the Burmese army with the Indian Government. The EU has not made any specific representations regarding this issue.
	The UK and EU have an ongoing dialogue with the Indian Government about their policy towards Burma and have highlighted international concern about human rights and the lack of democracy there.
	In my discussions with the Indian Deputy Foreign Minister in the margins of the Human Rights Council on 20 June 2006, I asked the Government of India to use their influence to encourage the Burmese Government to respect human rights and bring about political change. I also raised the human rights situation in Burma when I met the Indian Minister of State in the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi on 27 November 2006.

Iran

William Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment she has made of the implications for the UK of the European Court judgement of 12 December 2006 to annul the Council's decision to freeze the funds of the People's Mojahedin of Iran; and if she will make a statement.

Margaret Beckett: On 12 December 2006, the Court of First Instance (CFI) of the European Community annulled the Council of the European Union's decision to add the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MeK, also known as l'Organisation des Moudjahiddines du peuple iranien or People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran) to its list of terrorist organisations subject to an EU-wide asset freeze.
	The specific Council decision of December 2005 annulled by the Court has been replaced by a subsequent Council decision of May 2006. The EU-wide asset freeze against MeK is therefore still in force. The EU keeps all its terrorist asset freezing decisions under regular review.
	The assets of this group are also frozen under UK domestic law. This is not affected by the CFI judgement, which is a technical decision on EU procedures. The Court did not rule on the substantive question as to whether the MeK is a terrorist group.

Iraq Study Group

Michael Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when the UK Government were invited to make a submission to the Iraq Study Group in the United States; what form of submission was requested; and when it was supplied.

Margaret Beckett: I refer the hon. Member to the answers I gave him on 23 November 2006,  Official Report, column 247W, and the answers I gave him on 9 January 2007,  Official Report, column 501W.

Pakistan

William Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether discussions have been held with other European Governments on co-operation with Pakistan in the field of civilian nuclear energy; and if she will make a statement.

Margaret Beckett: Discussion at EU working group level has covered the whole range of Pakistan's nuclear activities, including the obstacles currently preventing EU Governments from entering into co-operation on civil nuclear energy. We have also held exchanges with Pakistan on enhancing export controls.

Singapore

Michael Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment she has made of the right to freedom of speech and expression in Singapore.

Margaret Beckett: Singapore's constitution provides for freedom of speech, assembly and association for Singaporean citizens. However, it also allows Singapore's Parliament to impose by law such restrictions as it sees fit to protect national security, friendly relations with other countries, public order and morality, the protection of parliamentary privilege and laws concerning contempt of court, defamation or incitement to any offence.
	The Public Entertainment and Meetings Act requires a permit for public speech or entertainment, although its rules have been relaxed to allow some indoor speaking events to be exempted. By law, police permission is required for public assemblies of five or more persons. Most associations, societies, clubs, religious groups and other organisations with more than 10 members are required to register with the Government under the Societies Act and the Government can deny registration to groups that they believe are likely to have been formed for unlawful purposes.
	Defamation cases can be brought and have been used by the Singapore Government. The Films Act forbids political advertising using films or videos and also prohibits films deemed to have political goals. Political and religious websites must be registered and may be subject to restrictions e.g. during elections. The Sedition Act has been used to prosecute racist comments made online. New laws to criminalise comments deemed to be harmful to racial and religious harmony are currently being discussed.

Singapore

Michael Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions she has had with the Government of Singapore on the application of freedom of speech, association and assembly in Singapore.

Margaret Beckett: The Singapore Government are well aware of our views, and those of our EU partners, on these issues. Most recently we raised our concerns to the Singaporean Government, through our high commission in Singapore, regarding access for accredited non-governmental organisations to the International Monetary Fund/World Bank Annual Meetings held in Singapore in September 2006.

Singapore

Michael Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment she has made of the detention of Dr. Chee Soon Juan and other Singapore Democrat Party members by the Government of Singapore.

Margaret Beckett: Dr. Chee Soon Juan was detained on 23 November 2006 for five weeks for non-payment of a fine he received for speaking in public without a permit, a requirement under Singapore law. Dr. Chee was released early on 16 December 2006. Two other members of the Singapore Democratic Party were detained at the same time and given shorter jail terms for non-payment of smaller fines. They have also been released.

Singapore

Michael Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment she has made of the use of the death penalty in Singapore; and what representations she has made to the Government of Singapore on the use of the death penalty.

Margaret Beckett: The UK is opposed to the death penalty in all circumstances. We believe that the abolition of the death penalty is essential for the protection of human rights under Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Singapore Government continue to use the death penalty, though the number of executions in recent years has been much lower than in the past. There is little public opposition in Singapore to use of the death penalty.
	The Singapore Government are well aware of our views. Our high commissioner in Singapore raised the issue most recently in December 2006 with the Singapore Deputy Prime Minster, who is also Minister for Law.

Somalia

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions she has had with her European and US counterparts on the security situation in Somalia.

Ian McCartney: We are in constant contact with our European partners and the US on the situation of Somalia.
	John Sawers (Foreign and Commonwealth Office Director-General Political) attended an ad hoc EU meeting for European members of the International Contact Group on Somalia in Brussels on 3 January. He also attended a meeting of the full International Contact Group on Somalia in Nairobi on 5 January at which Jendayi Frazer, the US Assistant Secretary of State for Africa, was present. My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary will discuss Somalia at the EU General Affairs and External Relations Council on 22 January.
	We, and our European and US counterparts, agree that this is a historic opportunity for the Somali people to reach sustainable political solutions for Somalia, based on the Transitional Federal Charter; that there is an urgent need to deploy a stabilisation force in Somalia based on UN Security Council Resolution 1725; that we should urge and support the Transitional Federal Institutions/Government in their efforts to lead an inclusive and representative political process in Somalia and to become an effective governing authority; and remain committed to providing humanitarian assistance.

Somalia

William Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment she has made of the  (a) political and  (b) security situation in Somalia.

Margaret Beckett: After years of lawlessness and little effective government, a historic opportunity now exists for a sustainable political solution to Somalia's difficulties. We fully support the Transitional Federal Institutions in their efforts to find a lasting and inclusive political settlement and to become an effective governing authority. The Transitional Federal Charter sets out a roadmap for constitutional process and transition to a democratically elected Government. This is the framework within which the Transitional Government should pursue a political process in Mogadishu.
	The security situation is still confused and volatile. At the moment no British officials can travel to Somalia. But we hope the Transitional Federal Government and the Transitional Federal Institutions will be able to move from Baidoa to Mogadishu shortly. We are working with Somalia's Transitional Federal Institutions, and our international partners, to help stabilise Somalia through the early deployment of a regional security force, restore governance through an inclusive political process, and rebuild Somalia through increased international assistance.

United Arab Emirates

William Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when the first round of talks between the UK and the United Arab Emirates on regional security will take place; how often such meetings will be held; at which ministerial level the UK will be represented; and whether any other countries will be involved.

Margaret Beckett: Exchanges with our partners in the United Arab Emirates on regional security have long been an important element of our dialogue, at both ministerial and official level. But in view of the importance of our relationship with them, we have decided to put even more resource into this element and will now be holding regular, dedicated talks on the subject. At this stage we have yet to decide on which Minister will attend the talks, but hope to hold the first round in March/April in Abu Dhabi.

United Arab Emirates

William Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether the Government intend to hold talks on regional security with countries in the Gulf in addition to those to be held with the United Arab Emirates.

Margaret Beckett: Exchanges on regional security are an integral part of our dialogue with all our partners in the region. We naturally envisage that such exchanges will continue. Equally, naturally their precise format may vary according to the circumstances of the day and the partner concerned.
	NATO, of which the UK is a member, offers individual co-operation to Gulf states under their Istanbul Co-operation Initiative. The UK will, with effect from 11 February 2007, be acting as NATO's contact point through our embassy in Bahrain for the period 2007-09.

United States: Secret Prisons

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when the UK Government were informed that the United States was operating a secret prison programme; and if she will make a statement.

Margaret Beckett: In his speech of 6 September 2006, President Bush acknowledged the existence of a detention programme operated by the CIA.
	Prior to this speech, we were aware of the existence of a secret US detention programme only in general terms.
	In 2005 the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) reported that the agencies had told them: "Clearly the US is holding some Al Qaida members in detention, other than at Guantanamo, but we do not know the location or terms of their detention and do not have access to them". These comments were published in the ISC's report "The Handling of Detainees by UK Intelligence Personnel in Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay and Iraq" of March 2005.

TREASURY

Air Passenger Duty

John Hemming: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will revise the regulations applying to the increase in air passenger duty from 1 February 2007 to exclude flights already booked.

John Healey: As the HMRC pre-Budget report note published on 6 December makes clear, the new rates will come into effect on 1 February 2007 and apply to the carriage of a passenger on an aircraft which begins on or after that date.

Air Passenger Duty

David Lidington: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether revenue from the increase in airline passenger duty will be spent on tackling climate change; and if he will make a statement.

John Healey: As the Chancellor made clear in his pre-Budget report statement, the increase in air passenger duty will secure extra resources in the coming spending round for the Government's priorities such as public transport and the environment.

Air Passenger Duty

Paul Goodman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what preparatory work his Department undertook to assess the effects of the increase in passenger duty announced in the pre-Budget report on  (a) airlines and  (b) passengers.

John Healey: The air passenger duty rate change was made taking into account environmental, social and economic impacts.
	The Chancellor's 2006 pre-Budget report announced that increases to air passenger duty would deliver carbon savings of 0.3MtC a year by 2010-11. When the effects of non-carbon dioxide emissions are taken into account this has a climate change impact equivalent to saving around 0.75MtC per year by 2010-11.

Air Passenger Duty

Paul Goodman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the number of people who will refuse to pay additional amounts of air passenger duty at airports after 1 February if required to do so by airlines for tickets booked before that date.

John Healey: As has been the case since the air passenger duty was introduced in 1994, air carriers (i.e. scheduled airlines and other air transport operators) are responsible for ensuring they pay the correct amount of duty to HM Revenue and Customs. How, or whether, they choose to pass that cost on to their customers is a matter for them.

Air Passenger Duty

Paul Goodman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the number of people who will pay the higher rates of air passenger duty announced in the pre-Budget report in the 12 months after 1 February.

John Healey: HM Revenue and Customs' econometric analysis suggests that between 1 February 2007 and 1 February 2008 a projected 115 million passengers eligible for air passenger duty will fly from the UK.

BMRB International

Mark Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer for what services BMRB International was paid by his Department in 2005-06; and what the total value of payments to the company has been in 2006-07.

John Healey: In 2005-06, the Financial Inclusion Taskforce, an independent advisory body whose budget falls within HM Treasury, commissioned BMRB Social Research to conduct research into financial exclusion. The total value of payments by the Treasury to BMRB in 2006-07 was £68,385 including VAT.

Carousel Fraud

Simon Hughes: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what extra resources have been allocated to HM Revenue and Customs to deal exclusively with carousel fraud.

Dawn Primarolo: Approximately 1,000 extra staff were allocated to HM Revenue and Customs as part of the overall VAT Compliance Strategy (VCS) in 2002-03 which included VAT Missing Trade Intra-Community Fraud as one of its priorities.
	However, HMRC applies a risk-based approach to the deployment of its existing resources and has responded to the increased threat of MTIC fraud during the past year. A total of 1,500 staff are now engaged in countering MTIC fraud across the Department following an additional redeployment of 700 compliance staff since Budget 2006.

Carousel Fraud

Simon Hughes: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what measures are taken by HM Revenue and Customs to ensure innocent companies are not unduly affected by lengthy investigations into carousel fraud.

Dawn Primarolo: HM Revenue and Customs' response to the increased threat from MTIC fraud has been proportionate, targeted and risk-based. In response to the rapid increase in MTIC activity last year, HM Revenue and Customs are actively checking a greater number of claims but as soon as they are satisfied that even part of a claim is properly payable, it is immediately repaid. The traders whose claims are subject to this extended verification represent a tiny proportion of over 1.9 million VAT-registered traders and the money withheld a fraction of the £50 to £55 billion that is repaid every year. HM Revenue and Customs recognise the importance of VAT repayments to legitimate businesses and have therefore deployed additional resources to ensure that verification of these claims can be carried out as effectively and efficiently as possible.

Carousel Fraud

Simon Hughes: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  how many companies were subject to investigations into carousel fraud in the last 12 months;
	(2)  how many prosecutions for carousel fraud were initiated in the last 12 months;
	(3)  how many carousel fraud prosecutions were completed in the last 12 months.

Vincent Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  how many prosecutions for carousel fraud there have been in each of the last five years for which records are available;
	(2)  how many of the defendants in cases of carousel fraud were known to be part of organised crime gangs in each of the last five years for which records are available.

Dawn Primarolo: Details of the investigations and prosecutions conducted each year by HM Revenue and Customs are published in the departmental annual report and, prior to the creation of HM Revenue and Customs, were published each year in the annual reports of both the Inland Revenue and HM Customs and Excise. Copies of the annual reports are available in the Library of the House. Where the specific information requested is not published, it is not collated in that format.

Child Trust Fund

Vincent Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what  (a) administration,  (b) consultancy and  (c) IT costs were incurred in each year since 2002-03 in relation to the Child Trust Fund; and if he will make a statement.

Edward Balls: Costs for the Child Trust Fund are set out in the following table:
	
		
			  £ million 
			   Administration  Consultancy( 1)  IT costs  Total 
			 2002-03 0 0 0 0 
			 2003-04 1.9 0.4 3.6 6 
			 2004-05 14 1.4 37.1 52 
			 2005-06 19.3 1.4 16.7 37 
			 2006-07 (estimate) 14.9 0 9.8 25 
			 (1)Consultancy costs refers to IT consultancy to oversee the IT development of the CTF.

Child Trust Fund

Vincent Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much was paid out by the Child Trust Fund through accounts opened by  (a) individuals and  (b) the Government in each three-month period since records began; and if he will make a statement.

Edward Balls: The figures for the payments made by the Government on the opening of Child Trust Fund accounts, split by those accounts opened by parents and those opened by HM Revenue and Customs, are set out in the following table:
	
		
			  £ million 
			   Initial Government payments to accounts opened by parents  Initial Government payments to accounts opened by HMRC  Additional Government payments to children in lower income families and all payments to looked- after children 
			 April -June 05 168 0 0 
			 July -Sept 05 89 Neg 27 
			 Oct - Dec 05 71 Neg 13 
			 Jan -Mar 06 78 27 10 
			 April- June 06 34 71 96 
			 July -Sept 06 33 19 23 
			 Oct - Dec 06 33 13 14 
		
	
	The bulk of accounts opened by HM Revenue and Customs started in early 2006 when the first vouchers issued began to expire. However, there were a very small amount of accounts opened previous to this for looked-after children and under age-parents.
	The figures for additional payments to children from lower income families cannot be broken down into those paid into accounts opened by parents and those opened by HM Revenue and Customs as this information is not necessary for the purposes of HM Revenue and Customs business and is therefore not held.

Correspondence

James Arbuthnot: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he expects to reply to letters from the right hon. Member for North-East Hampshire of 19 June, 31 August, 20 September and 13 December 2006 about Nicola Maxfield, a constituent of the right hon. Member.

Dawn Primarolo: As I outlined in my letter of 18 October 2006 to the right hon. Member, this issue is being considered and I hope to be in a position to respond shortly.

Employee Exit Survey

Mark Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will place in the Library a copy of the findings of his Department's latest exit survey for employees.

John Healey: The Department's exit questionnaire report produced in November 2006 has been placed in the Library.

External Consultants

Mark Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many staff passes have been issued to external consultants to work in his Department in the last 12 months.

John Healey: The information requested is not available.
	All persons working in the Treasury building are required to have a valid security clearance before they may be issued with a pass.

FOI Requests

Mark Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer who is responsible for determining which Freedom of Information Act requests are selected for publication on his Department's website; and what criteria are used.

John Healey: The Information Rights Unit.

GDP Statistics

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what level of gross domestic product was recorded in the nomenclature of units for territorial statistics area most closely corresponding to  (a) Peterborough city council area and  (b) Peterborough constituency in each of the last five years.

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
	 Letter from Colin Mowl, dated 18 January 2007:
	The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent question on gross domestic product (GDP) for the nomenclature of units for territorial statistics (NUTS) area most closely corresponding to a) Peterborough city council area and b) Peterborough constituency in each of the last five years. I am replying in her absence. (115579)
	Peterborough is the NUTS level 3 region which most closely corresponds to the Peterborough city council and Peterborough constituency areas. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) does not publish regional GDP but does publish estimates of regional gross value added (GVA) for the NUTS3 areas, for the period 1995 to 2004. Estimates of NUTS3 GVA, including data for Peterborough, were published in December 2006. The estimates for GVA for Peterborough for the last five years are given in the attached table.
	
		
			   Gross value added( 1)  for Peterborough (£ million) 
			 2000 2,405 
			 2001 2,525 
			 2002 2,706 
			 2003 2,942 
			 2004 3,175 
			 (1) Gross value added (GVA) is gross domestic product (GDP) less toes (plus subsidies) on products.

HM Revenue and Customs

Stephen Crabb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he last discussed the reorganisation of HM Revenue and Customs offices in Wales with the Secretary of State for Wales.

Dawn Primarolo: Treasury Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide range of organisations and individuals in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery. As was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Government's practice to provide details of all such meetings.

HM Revenue and Customs

Hywel Williams: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what targets his Department sets for quality of service at HM Revenue and Customs offices in Wales; and what recent assessment he has made of performance against those targets for each office.

Dawn Primarolo: holding answer 12 December 2006
	HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) sets national quality of service targets that apply equally to offices in Wales. HMRC's combined Annual Report 2005-06 and Autumn Performance Report 2006 (cm6983) sets out the latest assessment of progress. The report was presented to Parliament on 19 December 2006. A downloadable copy is available in portable document format (pdf) from the HMRC website at:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/about/reports.htm

Mental Health

Danny Alexander: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on  (a) the progress to date and  (b) the timetable for completion of the cross-cutting review of mental health and employment outcomes in relation to the comprehensive spending review.

Stephen Timms: The cross-cutting review of mental health and employment outcomes was announced in Budget 2006. It is expected to report as part of the Comprehensive Spending Review 2007.

Ministerial Visits

Mark Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer on what dates the Economic Secretary to the Treasury has visited  (a) Israel and  (b) Palestine in the last three years.

Edward Balls: As Economic Secretary to the Treasury, I visited Israel and the Occupied Territories on 19-20 December 2006. Before my appointment I also visited the region on two occasions: 30 October-1 November 2005 and 22-24 February 2006.

Mission Testing Europe Ltd

Mark Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer for what services Mission Testing Europe Ltd. was paid by his Department in 2005-06; and what the total value has been of payments in 2006-07.

John Healey: Mission Testing Europe was paid £46,556 plus VAT in 2005-06 by the Treasury, on behalf of the Debt Management Office, for the services of a secondee to the Debt Management Office. There were no payments in 2006-07.

PPP and PFI

John Hayes: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many contractors have claimed success fees in bid competitions since the establishment of public private partnerships and private finance initiatives; and at what cost to the public purse.

John Healey: The Treasury is not aware of any situations where contractors have claimed specific success fees. The successful company in a PPP or PFI bidding competition will, upon the finalisation of the contract, receive payments as specified in this contract for the assets and services it has agreed to deliver. Information on the sums payable for PFI contracts are available on the Treasury's signed deals list at:
	www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/documents/public_private _partnerships/

Public Appointments

Mark Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what public appointments his Department has made in the last three years; who was appointed in each case; on what date each appointment was made; and what remuneration is received by each appointee.

John Healey: Details of public appointments to bodies sponsored by the Treasury, and remuneration of appointees, can be found in "Public Bodies 2005", a copy of which is in the Library of the House.

Public Sector Employees

John Hayes: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 13 December 2006,  Official Report, columns 1223-24W, on public sector employees, what the corresponding data were for the given years for the percentage of population  (a) in private sector employment and  (b) on benefits not in long-term employment.

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
	 Letter from Colin Mowl, dated 18 January 2007:
	The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question about the proportions of the population in private sector employment and on benefits. I am replying in her absence. (115920)
	The available estimates for private sector employment, which are based on annual averages of quarterly estimates and the appropriate mid-year population estimates, are shown in the attached table. As these estimates are partly based on sample surveys, they are subject to a margin of uncertainty.
	Estimates of the numbers on benefits not in employment are not available.
	
		
			  Private sector employment as a percentage of resident population by region, 1999 and 2005 
			  Government office region  1999  2005 
			
			 North East 30.7 32.8 
			 North West 36.0 36.6 
			 Yorkshire and The Humber 35.9 37.2 
			 East Midlands 37.6 38.3 
			 West Midlands 37.8 37.5 
			 East 37.5 37.8 
			 London 43.5 42.4 
			 South East 40.0 40.7 
			 South West 39.4 39.2 
			 Wales 31.5 33.9 
			 Scotland 34.7 37.0 
			 Northern Ireland 29.2 30.5 
			 United Kingdom 37.4 38.0 
			  Note:  Regional estimates of private sector employment are derived as the difference between total employment according to the Labour Force Survey and corresponding regional estimates of public sector employment which are based on returns from public sector organisations, combined with approximate breakdowns from the Labour Force Survey for Wales and the English regions.  Sources:  Labour Force Survey, returns from public sector organisations (ONS, Scottish Executive and Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment for Northern Ireland)

Reviews

Mark Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  how many members of staff in his Department worked in the Cooksey Review team as at 5 December 2006; and what the pay band was of each staff member;
	(2)  how many members of staff in his Department were working on the Stern Review team as at 29 October 2006; and what the pay band was of each such staff member;
	(3)  how many members of staff in his Department were working on the Eddington Review as at 30 November 2006, broken down by pay band;
	(4)  how many members of staff in his Department were working on the Lyons Review  (a) in 2006 and  (b) as at 5 January 2007, broken down by pay band;
	(5)  how many members of staff in his Department were working in the Davidson Review team as at 27November 2006, broken down by pay band;
	(6)  how many members of staff in his Department were working in the Sainsbury Review team as at 5 January 2007, broken down by pay band;
	(7)  how many members of staff in his Department were working in the Leitch Review team as at 4 December 2006, broken down by pay band;
	(8)  how many members of staff in his Department were working in the Barker Review team at 4 December 2006, broken down by pay band;
	(9)  how many members of staff in his Department were working in the team supporting James Crosby in his public-private forum on identity management as at 5 January 2007, broken down by pay band.

John Healey: Treasury staff provide administrative and analytical support as necessary to independent review and inquiry teams established by the Chancellor.
	The number of Treasury officials working on each review is given in the table.
	
		
			  Reviews  Staff 
			 Barker Review 4 December 2006 1 Range E (1.0 FTE) 
			  4 Range D (3.0 FTE) 
			  1 Range C (0.6 FTE) 
			   
			 Leitch Review 4 December 2006 3 Range E (3.0 FTE) 
			  3 Range D (2.2 FTE) 
			  1 Range C( 1.0 FTE) 
			   
			 Sainsbury Review 5 January 2007 1 Range E (1.0 FTE) 
			  1 Range D (1.0 FTE) 
			  1 Range C (1.0 FTE) 
			   
			 Davidson Review 27 November 2006 1 Range F (1.0 FTE) 
			 Lyons Review total number of Treasury staff working on the review during 2006. 3 Range E (2.0 FTE) 
			  1 Range C (1.0 FTE) 
			  2 Range B(1.4 FTE) 
			   
			 Lyons Review 5 January 2007 2 Range E (2.0 FTE) 
			  1 Range C (1.0 FTE) 
			  1 Range B (0.4 FTE) 
			   
			 Eddington Study 30 November 2006 1 Range F (1.0 FTE) 
			  2 Range E (2.0 FTE) 
			  1 Range D (1.0 FTE) 
			  1 Range B (1.0 FTE) 
			   
			 Stern Review 29 October 2006 1 Range B (0.5 FTE) 
			  1 Range C (0.5 FTE) 
			  3 Range D(1.5 FTE) 
			  7 Range E (3.5 FTE) 
			  4 Range F (2.0 FTE) 
			   
			 Cooksey Review 5 December 2006 3 Range E (2.8 FTE) 
			 James Crosby Review : Public-private forum 5 January 2007 1 Range E (1.0 FTE) 
			  1 Range B (1.0 FTE) 
			 FTE = Full-time equivalent.

Social Security Advisory Committee

Danny Alexander: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what representations he has received from the Social Security Advisory Committee (SSAC) on monitoring and review of the memorandum of understanding between SSAC and the Department;
	(2)  what discussions he has had with the Social Security Advisory Committee on a review of the memorandum of understanding between SSAC and the Department;
	(3)  if he will make a statement on the comments of the Chairman of the Social Security Advisory Committee (SSAC) in the foreword to the SSAC 19th Stewardship Report about the timing for a review of the memorandum of understanding between SSAC and the Department.

Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Member to the reply that I gave to him on 19 December 2006,  Official Report, column 1737W.

Staff Travel

Mark Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the  (a) destination and  (b) purpose was of each overseas visit outside the European Union undertaken by staff in his Department in the last three months.

John Healey: This information is not held centrally by the Treasury and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Stamp Duty

Vincent Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the cost of disadvantaged area relief for stamp duty on residential property was in 2005-06; and if he will make a statement.

Edward Balls: Estimates of the cost of exempting residential transfers of property in designated disadvantaged wards in 2005-06 and 2006-07 are given in table 7 of the 2006 pre Budget report: tax ready reckoner and tax reliefs.

Tax Allowances

Mark Hunter: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people aged over  (a) 65 and  (b) 75 years (i) have their income tax personal allowances reduced because of the income limit for the age-related allowance and (ii) are affected by similar reductions in the married couples' income tax allowance.

Dawn Primarolo: Estimates for 2006-07 are provided in the following tables.
	
		
			  Numbers (000) 
			  Age  Number of taxpayers who have their personal allowance tapered 
			 65 to 74-year-olds 736 
			 75-years-old and over 449 
		
	
	
		
			  Numbers (000) 
			  Age  Number of taxpayers who have had their married couples allowance (MCA) tapered 
			 65 to 74-year-olds 71 
			 75-years-old and over 137 
			  Notes: 1. Estimates from the Survey of Personal Incomes 2003-04, projected forward to 2006-07 in line with December 2006 pre-Budget report assumptions.  2. MCA is a tax relief restricted to 10 per cent. and is available where either partner of a married couple or civil partnership was born before 6 April 1935.  3. In 2006-07 the aged personal allowances are £7,280 and £7,420 for 65 to 74-year-olds and 75-years-old and over respectively. The rates for MCA are £6,065 and £6,135 for 65 to 74-year-olds and 75-years-old and over respectively. The aged income limit is £20,100 and the minimum MCA is £2,350.  4. Figures do not include around 20,000 individuals for whom it is not possible to identify whether they have had their MCA tapered or their husband or civil partner has transferred to them the remainder of their MCA.  5. Aged personal allowances are tapered at the rate of £1 for every £2 of income above the aged income limit, to the level of the ordinary personal allowance (£5,035 in 2006-07).  6. For those entitled to MCA, it also is tapered at the rate of £1 for every £2 of income above the aged income limit, but only once an individual's personal allowance has been tapered to the level of the ordinary personal allowance. The MCA can only be withdrawn until it reaches the minimum MCA.

Tax Credits

Anne Main: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 8 January 2007 to Question 112990, on tax credits, by what percentage the total amount of compensatory payments in respect of tax credits altered in each of the last five years.

Dawn Primarolo: The information can be found in the following table:
	
		
			   Number  Increase in number of payments made (percentage)  Value (£ million)  Increase in total amount paid (percentage)  Average (around) (£)  Increase in level of average amount paid (percentage) 
			 2003-04 10,800 — 0.370 — 34 — 
			 2004-05 20,000 +85 1.24 +335 62 +82 
			 2005-06 15,249 - 24 1.07 -14 70 +13 
			 2006-07 (to end November) 4,834 n/a 0.415 n/a 85 +21 
			 All percentage increases shown are a comparison with the same figure for the previous year

Tax Credits

David Winnick: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he expects the director of the tax credit office, Preston, to reply to the letter from the hon. Member for Walsall, North, dated 27 November 2006, on a constituent; if he will ensure that a reply is sent; and what the reasons are for the delay in replying.

Dawn Primarolo: I understand a full substantive reply has now been sent to the hon. Member.

VAT

Vincent Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the impact on tax  (a) receipts and  (b) payments were the UK to move to a full system of reverse charge VAT; and what percentage would the estimated change represent of total annual VAT revenue.

Dawn Primarolo: No detailed quantitative assessments have been made of the impact of a wide reverse charge on UK VAT receipts or payments.

Vehicle and Road Taxes

David Anderson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what revenue his Department raised from vehicle and road taxes paid by motorists in the area covered by the Government Office of the North East in the most recent year for which figures are available.

John Healey: The Treasury does not hold the information requested. To disaggregate revenues raised from vehicle and road taxes paid by motorists within the North East of England would incur disproportionate cost.